Functioning democracies are all alike; every dysfunctional democracy is dysfunctional in its own way. India, where the free press has played a crucial role in protecting democratic institutions since independence in 1947, is now one of the world’s most dangerous … Read more
It’s no secret that the past two decades have seen a major decline in the number of news outlets serving local audiences. The statistics are staggering: Between 2004 and 2019, about 2,100 daily and weekly newspapers folded. These closures have … Read more
When I started to attend wakes as a girl, I told my father I didn’t know what to say or do. It was simple, he said. You extended your hand and say, “I’m sorry for your troubles.” He and my … Read more
Elizabeth Kolbert has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 1999 with a focus on environmental issues. Her 2015 Pulitzer Prize-winning book, “The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History,” posits that human activity has brought the … Read more
In “The God Beat: What Journalism Says About Faith and Why it Matters,” dozens of religion journalists expound on the challenges of covering spirituality in a nation at once both secular and faithful. The volume, edited by … Read more
Rania Abouzeid, a 2020 Nieman Fellow, on adapting her book on the Syrian Civil War for a young audience through “Sisters of the War: Two Remarkable True Stories of Survival and Hope in Syria.” I’d never thought about writing for … Read more
A leading thinker and commentator on digital journalism, Emily Bell is the founding director of the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia Journalism School. Also the Leonard Tow Professor of Journalism at the school, she currently teaches … Read more
Seyward Darby’s book on women in the white nationalist movement, “Sisters in Hate,” grew out of a detailed piece of reporting she published in Harper’s in 2017. But that wasn’t the first place … Read more
Charlie Warzel is an Opinion writer at large at The New York Times, where he writes about the intersection of technology, media, and politics. For the Times and in his prior role as a senior technology reporter … Read more
For many health reporters, reporting on the coronavirus started long before most Americans realized the devastating impact it would have on their daily lives. Declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization on March 11, 2020, … Read more