After winning the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award, journalist Ravish Kumar gave a speech on the importance of citizen journalism given the current state of mainstream media, on Friday, 6 September.

While speaking on "The Power of Citizens' Journalism to Advance Democracy" in the Philippines, Kumar highlighted the fractured functioning of mainstream media and how it is now a part of the “surveillance state.”

“The state today has established full control over the media and the corporations. The implication of this control over the media and in turn your information flow is that it limits and narrows the scope of your citizenship,” he said.