A Filipino-American journalist, who sympathised with the challenges that the Samoa Observer faced in its formative years, is one of the two journalist winners of the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize.

Journalist Maria Ressa and Russian newspaper editor Dmitry Muratov were declared by the Nobel Committee the winners of the prestigious award reportedly due to their investigations which angered local authorities in their home countries as well as the extraordinary threats that they faced.

Ms Ressa, whom the BBC News reports co-founded the news site Rappler, was commended for using freedom of expression to "expose abuse of power, use of violence and growing authoritarianism in her native country, the Philippines".

The Nobel laureate and the Samoa Observer Editor-in-Chief Gatoaitele Savea Sano Malifa were both panelists at the International Press Institute (IPI) World Congress in Geneva, Switzerland in early June 2019 where they gave testimonies on the challenges that their respective news organisations faced.

Gatoaitele’s testimony on the challenges that the Samoa Observer experienced over the years struck Ms Ressa. 

According to BBC News, the Nobel committee said Mr Muratov, the co-founder and editor of independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta, had for decades defended freedom of speech in Russia under increasingly challenging conditions.

"Free, independent and fact-based journalism serves to protect against abuse of power, lies and war propaganda," the committee said in a statement.

"Without freedom of expression and freedom of the press, it will be difficult to successfully promote fraternity between nations, disarmament and a better world order to succeed in our time," it added.

Award-winning journalist Ms Ressa was convicted last year of libel in a case seen as a test of Philippine press freedom.

In a live broadcast by Rappler, she said she was "in shock".

"This shows that the Nobel Peace Prize committee realised that a world without facts means a world without truth and trust," she said.

BBC News reports that Ms Ressa and Mr Muratov are the 102nd winners of the prize.

Last year's winner was the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), which was awarded for its efforts to combat hunger and improve conditions for peace.

Then US President Barack Obama took the prize in 2009 and other notable winners include child education activist Malala Yousafzai (shared 2014); the United Nations and its secretary-general at the time, Kofi Annan (shared 2001); and Mother Teresa (1979).