ISSUE

Summer 2024

Warped

As the U.S. barrels toward a defining election in November, confusion over the news media’s role in American life has only deepened. When a presidential candidate threatens democratic norms and freedoms, should a reporter actively promote the opposing candidate committed to preserving them?

Or are journalists obliged to strive for neutrality by treating the candidates as comparable forces deserving comparable scrutiny? But elevating neutrality, and passively watching an authoritarian gain power, could unravel the press freedoms woven into the fabric of the U.S. since its founding.

Our Summer 2024 issue explores the role of the press when democracy is at stake.

Articles

The Lonely Crusade Against Caste

Features

The Lonely Crusade Against Caste

To give a voice to India’s marginalized, Meena Kotwal launched The Mooknayak in 2021. Now, after four years of threats and abuse, she is afraid for her daughter and the…

Puja Changoiwala

December 5, 2024

Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva Are Free. They’re the Exceptions

From the Curator

Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva Are Free. They’re the Exceptions

Hundreds of journalists, including two Nieman Fellows, live behind bars.

Ann Marie Lipinski

August 28, 2024

Warped

Features

Warped

Election stakes couldn't be higher. The media is still struggling to meet the moment

August 27, 2024

Getting Personal While Staying Principled

Niemans @ Work

Getting Personal While Staying Principled

On the morning of April 25, 2022, I woke up to alarming texts from the team I had been working with. Three homes connected to my colleagues at New Hampshire…

Geopolitics, in First Person

Niemans @ Work

Geopolitics, in First Person

When The New York Times sent me to report on a transformative oil discovery in my birthplace, Guyana, they asked for, and got, a first-person narrative. The opening scene places…

Gaiutra Bahadur

As Press Freedoms Erode in Bangladesh, Political Cartoonists Are Being Targeted by An Increasingly Authoritarian Regime

Features

As Press Freedoms Erode in Bangladesh, Political Cartoonists Are Being Targeted by An Increasingly Authoritarian Regime

The crackdown has had a chilling effect on the entire media industry.

Sheikh Sabiha Alam

Less Arguing, More Doodling

Sounding

Less Arguing, More Doodling

The virtues of taking a different route with sports journalism

Journalists See “Clear, Alarming Signals” for Press Freedom in Italy

Features

Journalists See “Clear, Alarming Signals” for Press Freedom in Italy

The right-wing government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is exerting pressure on the press through lawsuits, wiretaps, and forcing veteran journalists from key roles in public broadcasting.

Stefania D'Ignoti

‘We Had No Place to Save the Stories’

Features

‘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.

Saving the First Draft of History

Journalist’s Trade

Saving the First Draft of History

Archiving wasn’t perfect in the analog days, but preserving journalism in the digital age is increasingly complicated.

Generations of Displacement and Loss

Visual Journalism

Generations of Displacement and Loss

A photographer finds joy amid life in a Palestinian refugee camp

‘It's a Record That Can't Be Erased’

Live @ Lippmann

‘It’s a Record That Can’t Be Erased’

Frontline executive producer Raney Aronson-Rath on the story behind the Oscar-winning documentary “20 Days in Mariupol”