1006: How to Break Into Digital Journalism With Maria Ressa, Rappler [Espresso Shots]

Maria Ressa is the co-founder, executive editor, and CEO of Rappler, a Philippine-based online news network that aims to produce uncompromised journalism that inspires conversation and change. She is also the first Filipino recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021. She previously spent nearly two decades working as a lead investigative reporter in Southeast Asia for CNN. During the Duterte administration, Maria faced years of legal troubles and multiple arrests after exposing abuses by that government in the Philippines. She was also among the group of journalists named as Time’s person of the year in 2018 and was listed as one of Time’s 100 most influential people of 2019. She was also the subject of the 2020 documentary A Thousand Cuts. Maria graduated from Princeton University in 1986 with a B.A. in English, theater and dance. WHAT YOU’LL LEARN ABOUT IN THIS EPISODE: How to make your own opportunities in digital journalism (4:42) What are useful hard/soft skills employers are looking for (6:00) Why it’s so important to understand data science (8:04) How important your major is in getting hired as a journalist (9:37) What product management in journalism is (16:20) What life experiences are most useful to cultivate (18:44) What is Maria best career advice (27:00) How the journalism industry is changing (31:54)  Why to read Sinan Aral’s The Hype Machine: How Social Media Disrupts Our Elections, Our Economy and Our Health – And How We Must Adapt  Why to read Shoshana Zuboff’s The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight For a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power If you want to learn more about what Maria does as the co-founder of Rappler and how she built her career check out T4C episode #679