December 1, 2024 - Following the conclusion of the annual Jaime V. Ongpin Journalism Seminar, the Embassy of Canada in the Philippines awarded the 2024 Marshall McLuhan Fellowship for Excellence in Journalism to Pia Ranada, Rappler’s lead for the news media’s efforts in linking communities and journalism.
Ranada was previously Rappler’s investigative and senior reporter. While covering former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s administration, Ranada made news herself when the former president banned her and Rappler’s chief executive Maria Ressa from entering Malacanang, the Philippines’ presidential palace.
On November 19, the embassy’s political and public affairs counsellor Andrew Green presented the award to Ranada, citing her “exceptional commitment to journalism, using the craft to bridge citizens with critical information that can impact societal change.”
The Canadian Embassy's Andrew Green presents the 2024 McLuhan Fellow award for excellence in journalism to Rappler's Pia Ranada. Photo from Embassy of Canada in the Philippines' Facebook account.
Green also praised Ranada’s “courageous reportage” that uncovers wrongdoings and “highlights potential solutions, guiding the audience toward greater understanding and action and thereby truly exemplifying the values of the McLuhan Fellowship — namely, pushing the boundaries of public discourse, bringing people together around shared truths, and using the power of media to strengthen democracy.”
Ranada was a Stanford University John S. Knight journalism fellow in 2022/23 and The Outstanding Women in Nation's Service (TOWNS) awardee in 2022.
In 2025, Ranada will travel across Canada and the Philippines, on speaking engagements with media professionals, journalists, academia, civil society and government officials.
The McLuhan Fellowship Program is the flagship media advocacy project of the Embassy of Canada in the Philippines, in partnership with Sun Life of Canada and the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility. First launched in 1997, the program has been promoting excellence in journalism in the Philippines for 27 years.
The Marshall McLuhan Fellowship is awarded yearly to a recipient who embodies outstanding qualities in the field of investigative journalism.
About the Author
Rachel Ramos-Reid started writing for magazines and newspapers when she was still a junior at the University of the Philippines’ Communication degree program majoring in Journalism. She continued to write in a public relations/corporate communications capacity in various private and government offices until moving out of the country in 1997 to work as Programme Officer for the arts and culture branch of the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO-SPAFA) in Bangkok, Thailand. At the end of her term, Rachel found herself immigrating to Canada in the year 2000 and again searching for new beginnings. Currently she is the Executive Assistant to a small rural college on Vancouver Island.
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