Alt News’ Pratik Sinha, Mohammed Zubair contenders for Nobel Peace Prize

The Norwegian Nobel Committee on Friday at 11 am (Norway local time) will announce the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to people “who have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind.”

This year, among many world leaders and politicians, two Indian journalists have also made the cut to be the favorites to win the prestigious award. According to a Reuters survey, co-founders of India’s fact-checking website AltNews, Pratik Sinha, and Mohammed Zubair have been nominated by Norwegian lawmakers for the Nobel peace award.

Sinha and Zubair have been nominated for “battling misinformation”, methodologically debunking rumors and fake news circulating on social media, and calling out hate speech through their fact-checking website.

The nomination of AltNews co-founders comes on the sidelines of the recent arrest of Zubair by the Delhi Police in June over a four-year-old tweet. His arrest was condemned by journalists around the world, as the Editors Guild of India in a statement on June 28 stated, “It is apparent that AltNews’ alert vigilance was resented by those who use disinformation as a tool to polarize the society and rake nationalist sentiments.”

Meanwhile, the Committee to Protect Journalists, while calling for Zubair’s release, said his arrest was “another low for press freedom in India, where the government has created a hostile and unsafe environment for members of the press reporting on sectarian issues.”

Zubair was granted bail nearly a month later, on July 20 by the Supreme Court.

Among others who have been nominated for the Nobel peace prize are Belarusian opposition politician Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, British nature broadcaster David Attenborough, the World Health Organization, environmental activist Greta Thunberg, Pope Francis, Tuvalu’s foreign minister Simon Kofe, and Myanmar’s National Unity government.