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Top headlines
Lead story
One of the most frightening and intimidating events to happen to a reporter is for law enforcement to show up at the door with a search warrant.
It rarely happens in the U.S. and other democracies. But it happened yesterday, when the FBI conducted a raid on the home of Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson, in search of materials related, the government said, to a federal government contractor.
Raiding reporters’ homes is just one of the methods that autocrats use to intimidate journalists and discourage them from reporting the facts. Konstantin Zhukov, a scholar at Indiana University who studies autocracy, writes today that there’s a clear reason why would-be autocrats adopt such methods: “Free speech and independent media play a vital role in holding governments accountable by informing the public about government wrongdoing.”
That’s precisely why “autocrats like Russia’s Vladimir Putin have worked to silence independent media, eliminating checks on their power and extending their rule,” Zhukov writes.
While the United States remains institutionally far removed from countries like Russia, he says, “the Trump administration has taken troubling early steps toward autocracy by threatening – and in some cases implementing – restrictions on free speech and independent media.”
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Naomi Schalit
Senior Editor, Politics + Democracy
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Neither of these men – US President Donald Trump, left, and Russian President Vladimir Putin – likes being held accountable by the press.
Contributor/Getty Images
Konstantin Zhukov, Indiana University; Institute for Humane Studies
President Donald Trump’s threats against independent media and free speech look a lot like the actions of autocrats elsewhere intent on undermining the institutions meant to keep them in check.
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Economy + Business
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Aaron Coy Moulton, Stephen F. Austin State University
US lawmakers who opposed Guatemala’s democratically elected leaders alleged communist subterfuge. They didn’t mention the United Fruit Company’s complaints before the 1954 coup.
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Health + Medicine
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Michele Patterson Ford, Dickinson College
New Year’s resolutions typically fade so quickly that there is a ‘Quitter’s Day’ named after them, for the second Friday in January. But small actions and shifts in mindset can have much longer-lasting beneficial effects.
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Environment + Energy
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Stephen Acabado, University of California, Los Angeles
As climate extremes intensify, adaptation debates favor new technologies. Terraces in the Philippines and Morocco show how people modified their landscapes to respond to past climate shifts.
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Kelsey Roberts, Cornell University; UMass Dartmouth; Daniele Visioni, Cornell University; Morgan Raven, University of California, Santa Barbara; Tyler Rohr, University of Tasmania
Some methods being tried to counter climate change shift the ocean’s biology or chemistry. Others would deflect solar radiation. All have consequences for marine life.
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Politics + Society
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Morgan Marietta, University of Tennessee
The high court recognizes a person’s right to self-defense with firearms but has also upheld the government’s power to enforce limits on that right.
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Sean Richey, Georgia State University
Fostering a sense of pride in local communities increases citizen participation, including, at a bare minimum, voting in municipal elections.
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Matt Brooks, Florida State University; Karin Brewster, Florida State University
Most of the 1 million Venezuelan immigrants in the US arrived relatively recently.
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Science + Technology
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Evelyn Valdez-Ward, University of Rhode Island; Nic Bennett, Michigan State University; Robert N. Ulrich, University of California, Los Angeles
Scientists have traditionally focused on educating the public on science or correcting misinformation. But researchers from marginalized communities often have broader goals in science communication.
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International
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Kerry E. Ratigan, Amherst College
Beijing may benefit from the US retreat from international norms and a vision of a world split into ‘sphere of influence.’
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Lindsay Stark, Washington University in St. Louis; Ilana Seff, Washington University in St. Louis
With targeted support, refugees are more likely to gain employment, increase their savings and find safety if not housed in camps, study finds.
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Ethics + Religion
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Claire White, California State University, Northridge
Grief can inspire concrete acts of loyalty and generosity.
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