Author

Ann Cooper

Ann Cooper was a 2020 Joan Shorenstein Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy. She served as executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists from 1998 until June 2006 and, professor emerita at the Columbia University School of Journalism. She can be reached at annkcooper@gmail.com.

Unerased

Unerased

Vladimir Putin’s government is trying to scrub critical journalism from the internet. The Russian Independent Media Archive is standing in its way.
November 30, 2024
‘We Had No Place to Save the Stories’

‘We Had No Place to Save the Stories’

Two decades ago, The Associated Press set out to preserve the organization’s history. What it created is an archive that sheds light on the press as a political institution.
June 17, 2024
The Story Behind the Execution of AP Reporter Joseph Morton During WW2

The Story Behind the Execution of AP Reporter Joseph Morton During WW2

A new book examines the work of The Associated Press in covering Nazi Germany.
March 4, 2024
Fighting for A Free Press in Ukraine — and Beyond

Fighting for A Free Press in Ukraine — and Beyond

As Ukrainians defend their country against the Russian invasion, journalists there and in other post-Soviet states guard their fragile press freedoms
March 4, 2022
Lukashenko’s Hijacking of the Free Press in Belarus

Lukashenko’s Hijacking of the Free Press in Belarus

The audacity of the Belarusian diversion of an international flight in order to arrest a dissident journalist rightly drew global headlines and global condemnation this week. But it’s not exactly…
May 25, 2021
Lithuania’s Public Broadcaster and Commercial Rivals Clash over State Funding

Lithuania’s Public Broadcaster and Commercial Rivals Clash over State Funding

Public funding of broadcasting is a cherished cornerstone of European democracies. In Lithuania, commercial stations argue state-financed budgets give the country’s public broadcaster an unfair advantage
March 15, 2021
How Russian Media Reported the Coronavirus Pandemic

How Russian Media Reported the Coronavirus Pandemic

In a new Shorenstein Center report, “Conveying Truth: Independent Media in Putin’s Russia,” Ann Cooper, a Spring 2020 Joan Shorenstein fellow, describes the origins and evolution of independent media in Russia…
August 11, 2020

A Difficult Journey From Repression to Democracy

Brave journalists who challenge authoritarian regimes often ‘enter a postauthoritarian era full of compromises and new repressions.’
June 15, 2006