Spring Journalism Events Focus on Democracy, Free Press, and Political Unrest

February 7, 2022
Photo of Maria Ressa being arrested
Eloisa Lopez/Reuters

The Humanities Council’s Program in Journalism is pleased to announce a full slate of topical events throughout Spring 2022. Featuring leading journalists from around the world, the discussions touch on subjects ranging from midterms elections in the U.S. to political life in eastern Tibet to the lingering global aftermath of 9/11.

The series kicks off at 4:30 pm on Thursday, February 17, with Reporting on Repressive Governments: How journalists overcome barriers to safeguard free speech and inform democracy.

With authoritarianism on the rise across the globe, how can journalists succeed at rooting out facts and crafting the narratives necessary to inform citizens, fuel academic inquiry, and sustain democracy? All are invited to join our panelists’ multi-disciplinary exploration of efforts to restrict free speech and stifle debate.

Introduced by Esther Schor, chair of the Humanities Council, and moderated by Joe Stephens, director of the Program in Journalism, panelists include:

— Barbara Demick, visiting McGraw Professor of Writing, foreign correspondent and author;
— Razia Iqbal, visiting Ferris Professor of Journalism, anchor of BBC’s Newshour;
— Maria Ressa ’86, 2021 Nobel Peace Prize winner, journalist and CEO of Rappler; and
— Carolyn Rouse, Ritter Professor of Anthropology, chair of the Department of Anthropology.

This signature event is co-sponsored by the Princeton University Office of Communications and the Department of Anthropology. Attendees must register in advance.

Lunch Talks

Journalism will also resume its lunchtime talks later this month. These programs bring distinguished visiting journalists into conversation with faculty from a variety of disciplines to discuss their work and pressing issues of the day. Open to Princeton faculty, graduate students, and staff, the talks take place from 12 noon to 1:15 pm on the following Thursdays:

February 24
Post-Insurrection Politics: Reporting on the Midterms, 2024 Election, and Democracy in Crisis
Speaker Michael Calderone, a visiting Ferris Professor of Journalism, is a senior editor at Vanity Fair’s Hive, a news site that covers power across politics, media, technology, and business. He previously reported on political media and the news industry for Politico, HuffPost, and the New York Observer. Discussant Julian Zelizer is Malcolm Stevenson Forbes, Class of 1941 Professor of History and Public Affairs and a CNN political analyst.

March 17
Eat the Buddha: Using literary non-fiction to bring to life a ‘closed town’ in Tibet
Speaker Barbara Demick, a visiting McGraw Professor of Writing, is a longtime foreign correspondent and an award-winning author of three books. In 15 years at The Los Angeles Times she served as bureau chief in New York, Beijing, and Seoul. She previously reported for The Philadelphia Inquirer. Discussant Sophie Gee is an associate professor of English and associate chair of the Department of English.

March 31
The Long Shadow of 9/11: How the 2001 attacks transformed international news coverage
Speaker Razia Iqbal, a visiting Ferris Professor of Journalism, is an anchor of Newshour on the BBC World Service, the current affairs program with 12.5 million listeners in the U.S. and millions more elsewhere. For the last three decades she has reported and presented from around the world. Discussant Miguel Centeno is Musgrave Professor of Sociology, Professor of Sociology and International Affairs, and vice dean of the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs.

To register for these events or learn more about the Program in Journalism, visit journalism.princeton.edu.

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