New Books in Journalism

Irina Borogan and Andrei Soldatov, "Our Dear Friends in Moscow: The Inside Story of a Broken Generation" (PublicAffairs, 2025)

1991 ushered in a new epoch of hope as Russia marched toward democracy and prosperity on the ruins of the Soviet Union. In 2025 those hopes for a thriving, democratic Russia have not panned out. Irina Borogan and Andrei Soldatov lived it as journalists in Russia from the start of Putin’s reign. Specialists in documenting Russia’s secret services, they’ve reported many, many important stories over the past decades. Our Dear Friends in Moscow: The Inside Story of a Broken Generation [https://bookshop.org/a/12343/9781541704473] (PublicAffairs, 2025) tells an intimate story of a group of friends in journalism whose view diverged against the backdrop of Putin’s revanchist, authoritarian rule. Soldatov and Borogan narrate the personal, perplexing, and painful story of the friends and colleagues who assimilated Kremlin-aligned views as the authors themselves moved from opposition journalists to exiles under threat from the Putin’s regime. This conversation scratches the surface of the book’s riveting and important attempt to make sense of polarization and allegiances with weighty consequences. Andrei Soldatov is a Russian investigative journalist in exile, co-founder and editor of Agentura ru, a watchdog of the Russian secret services’ activities. He has been covering security services and terrorism issues since 1999. Irina Borogan is a Russian investigative journalist in exile. Borogan reported on terrorist attacks in Russia, including hostage takings in Moscow and Beslan. In 1999 Borogan covered the NATO bombing in Yugoslavia, in 2006 she covered the Lebanon War and tensions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. She chronicled the Kremlin’s campaign to gain control of civil society and strengthen the government’s police services under the pretext of fighting extremism. Irina Borogan and Andrei Soldatov are currently fellows at King’s College London and the Center for Europan Policy Analysis (CEPA). They are co-authors of four books: The New Nobility: The Restoration of Russia's Security State and the Enduring Legacy of the KGB [https://www.google.com/search?q=The+New+Nobility%3A+The+Restoration+of+Russia%27s+Security+State+and+the+Enduring+Legacy+of+the+KGB&rlz=1C5GCEM_enUS1147US1147&oq=soldatov+and+borogan+books&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOdIBCDQ1OTNqMGo3qAIAsAIA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&mstk=AUtExfD1xu1SGK292xblHlpdaTDRukJZgRCEHPEt1aIBu9OSsi0yvRnPgMm9UUnEo-CF-8Wz7JlYpb_OVsvbHKteTHI1AHLfmN8uf3SxpevW7bnZ23FhpFBj-K2JHWLFWGzS_G_0atTFYxRnAPuzdh9vSMdZGMc0NOgwYkE6CzASJ0bblinKGA_AG9TgSKcmJifxRHZGwRhfB7KPL5vZ5Rjif-w9HKKFwc6AKEtqBdJRWZl3jz9NZZfhby6Uh87ICNjJwqHfzSlhAM-ExuYLTzxD9foj&csui=3&ved=2ahUKEwjC3-uVn_KQAxU_CjQIHQPzAIoQgK4QegQIBBAB] (2010); The Red Web: The Struggle Between Russia's Digital Dictators and the New Online Revolutionaries [https://www.google.com/search?q=The+Red+Web%3A+The+Struggle+Between+Russia%27s+Digital+Dictators+and+the+New+Online+Revolutionaries&rlz=1C5GCEM_enUS1147US1147&oq=soldatov+and+borogan+books&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOdIBCDQ1OTNqMGo3qAIAsAIA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&mstk=AUtExfD1xu1SGK292xblHlpdaTDRukJZgRCEHPEt1aIBu9OSsi0yvRnPgMm9UUnEo-CF-8Wz7JlYpb_OVsvbHKteTHI1AHLfmN8uf3SxpevW7bnZ23FhpFBj-K2JHWLFWGzS_G_0atTFYxRnAPuzdh9vSMdZGMc0NOgwYkE6CzASJ0bblinKGA_AG9TgSKcmJifxRHZGwRhfB7KPL5vZ5Rjif-w9HKKFwc6AKEtqBdJRWZl3jz9NZZfhby6Uh87ICNjJwqHfzSlhAM-ExuYLTzxD9foj&csui=3&ved=2ahUKEwjC3-uVn_KQAxU_CjQIHQPzAIoQgK4QegQIBBAD] (2015); The Compatriots: The Brutal and Chaotic History of Russia's Exiles, Émigrés, and Agents Abroad [https://www.google.com/search?q=The+Compatriots%3A+The+Brutal+and+Chaotic+History+of+Russia%27s+Exiles%2C+%C3%89migr%C3%A9s%2C+and+Agents+Abroad&rlz=1C5GCEM_enUS1147US1147&oq=soldatov+and+borogan+books&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOdIBCDQ1OTNqMGo3qAIAsAIA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&mstk=AUtExfD1xu1SGK292xblHlpdaTDRukJZgRCEHPEt1aIBu9OSsi0yvRnPgMm9UUnEo-CF-8Wz7JlYpb_OVsvbHKteTHI1AHLfmN8uf3SxpevW7bnZ23FhpFBj-K2JHWLFWGzS_G_0atTFYxRnAPuzdh9vSMdZGMc0NOgwYkE6CzASJ0bblinKGA_AG9TgSKcmJifxRHZGwRhfB7KPL5vZ5Rjif-w9HKKFwc6AKEtqBdJRWZl3jz9NZZfhby6Uh87ICNjJwqHfzSlhAM-ExuYLTzxD9foj&csui=3&ved=2ahUKEwjC3-uVn_KQAxU_CjQIHQPzAIoQgK4QegQIBBAF] (2019);and Our Dear Friends in Moscow: The Inside Story of a Broken Generation [https://www.google.com/search?q=Our+Dear+Friends+in+Moscow%3A+The+Inside+Story+of+a+Broken+Generation&rlz=1C5GCEM_enUS1147US1147&oq=soldatov+and+borogan+books&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOdIBCDQ1OTNqMGo3qAIAsAIA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&mstk=AUtExfD1xu1SGK292xblHlpdaTDRukJZgRCEHPEt1aIBu9OSsi0yvRnPgMm9UUnEo-CF-8Wz7JlYpb_OVsvbHKteTHI1AHLfmN8uf3SxpevW7bnZ23FhpFBj-K2JHWLFWGzS_G_0atTFYxRnAPuzdh9vSMdZGMc0NOgwYkE6CzASJ0bblinKGA_AG9TgSKcmJifxRHZGwRhfB7KPL5vZ5Rjif-w9HKKFwc6AKEtqBdJRWZl3jz9NZZfhby6Uh87ICNjJwqHfzSlhAM-ExuYLTzxD9foj&csui=3&ved=2ahUKEwjC3-uVn_KQAxU_CjQIHQPzAIoQgK4QegQIBBAH] (2025). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices] Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/journalism [https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/journalism]

Clint Smith, "How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America" (Little, Brown and Company, 2021)

How do we narrate history, both the troubling past and what we chose to remember? Clint Smith sets out to wrestle with this question and its relationship to enslavement in his first nonfiction book, How the Word is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America [https://bookshop.org/a/12343/9780316492935] (Little, Brown and Company, 2021). From Monticello plantation to Angola Prison to Galveston Island, Smith guides the reader on a journey as he visits domestic and abroad landmarks. In his exploration, he includes the reactions of the people he meets, like tourists, local public historians, and teachers, illuminating how these sites and all of us participate in remembering enslavement in contemporary America. N'Kosi Oates is a Ph.D. candidate in Africana Studies at Brown University. Find him on Twitter at NKosiOates. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices] Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/journalism [https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/journalism]

AI, News, and the State: Reinstitutionalising Journalism in Global China’s Algorithmic Age: A conversation with Dr. Joanne Kuai

How is artificial intelligence transforming journalism as both a profession and an institution? In this episode, Ning Ao speaks to Dr. Joanne Kuai, exploring how AI reshapes journalistic roles, organisational structures, and governance systems through the lens of China’s media landscape—while drawing comparisons with the US and EU. Dr. Joanne Kuai [https://academics.rmit.edu.au/joanne-kuai/publications] is a Research Fellow in the School of Media and Communication at RMIT University and holds a PhD from Karlstad University in Sweden. Her research focuses on digital journalism, the social implications of automation and algorithms, and the governance of data and AI. Ning Ao [https://portal.research.lu.se/en/persons/ning-ao] is a PhD student at the Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies (ACE) at Lund University. Her research looks at generational differences among Chinese Mongols. Episode producer: Ning Ao [https://portal.research.lu.se/en/persons/ning-ao] - - - - - - Links: Joanne’s article-based PhD dissertation: AI, News, and the State: Reinstitutionalising Journalism in Global China’s Algorithmic Age [https://kau.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A1952107&dswid=-2406] Joanne’s recommendations: Julie E. Cohen’s Between Truth and Power: The Legal Constructions of Informational Capitalism [https://juliecohen.com/between-truth-and-power/] Kevin Xu’s bilingual newsletter - Interconnected [https://interconnected.blog/about/] Ghost in the Shell (1995) [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113568/] Detroit: Become Human [https://store.steampowered.com/agecheck/app/1222140/] Follow Joanne’s research on: Joanne Kuai at RMIT University [https://academics.rmit.edu.au/joanne-kuai/about] ResearchGate [https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Joanne-Kuai-2] Linkedin [https://www.linkedin.com/in/joannekuai/] The Nordic Asia Podcast is a collaboration sharing expertise on Asia across the Nordic region, brought to you by the following academic partners: * Asia Centre, University of Tartu (Estonia) * Asian studies, University of Helsinki (Finland) * Centre for Asian Studies, Vytautas Magnus University (Lithuania) * Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies, Lund University (Sweden) * Centre for East Asian Studies, University of Turku (Finland) * Norwegian Network for Asian Studies Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices] Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/journalism [https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/journalism]

Martin Moore and Thomas Colley, "Dictating Reality: The Global Battle to Control the News" (Columbia UP, 2025)

From the United States to China and from Brazil to India, an authoritarian approach to news is spreading across the world. Increasingly, the media is no longer a check on power or a source of objective information but a means by which governments and leaders can propagate their versions of reality, however biased or false. In  [https://bookshop.org/a/12343/9780231559621]Dictating Reality: The Global Battle to Control the News [https://bookshop.org/a/12343/9780231559621] (Columbia UP, 2025), Dr. Martin Moore and Dr. Thomas Colley show how states are battling to control and shape the news in order to entrench their power, evade scrutiny, and ensure that their political narratives are accepted. Combining in-depth analyses of seven countries with a compelling range of stories and characters from around the world, they demonstrate the unprecedented scale and scope of governments’ efforts to take control of the media. Dictating Reality details how Xi’s China, Putin’s Russia, Modi’s India, AMLO’s Mexico, Bolsonaro’s Brazil, and Orban’s Hungary have all sought, in their different ways, to exploit news to manufacture alternative realities—and how their methods have taken hold in the United States, the United Kingdom, and other democracies. Combining keen analysis of contemporary world events with years of original research, this book is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand how authoritarian leaders use the media, why more and more people are living in different realities, and the ways democracy is under threat. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book [https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/securing-peace-in-angola-and-mozambique-9781350407930/] focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda’s interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher [https://newbooksnetwork.com/category/special-series/new-books-with-miranda-melcher], wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices] Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/journalism [https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/journalism]

Rob Wells, "The Insider: How the Kiplinger Newsletter Bridged Washington and Wall Street" (U Massachusetts Press, 2022)

When Willard M. Kiplinger launched the groundbreaking Kiplinger Washington Letter in 1923, he left the sidelines of traditional journalism to strike out on his own. With a specialized knowledge of finance and close connections to top Washington officials, Kiplinger was uniquely positioned to tell deeper truths about the intersections between government and business. With careful reporting and insider access, he delivered perceptive analysis and forecasts of business, economic, and political news to busy business executives, and the newsletter's readership grew exponentially over the coming decades. More than just a pioneering business journalist, Kiplinger emerged as a quiet but powerful link between the worlds of Presidents Hoover and Roosevelt, and used his Letter to play a little-known but influential role in the New Deal. Part journalism history, part biography, and part democratic chronicle, The Insider: How the Kiplinger Newsletter Bridged Washington and Wall Street [https://bookshop.org/a/12343/9781625347039] (University of Massachusetts Press, 2022) offers a well-written and deeply researched portrayal of how Kiplinger not only developed a widely read newsletter that launched a business publishing empire but also how he forged a new role for the journalist as political actor." Rob Wells is is visiting associate professor at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland. Kavya Sarathy is a Linguistics student at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and a Marketing Intern for the University of Massachusetts Press. She is currently a political Staff Writer at The Massachusetts Daily Collegian. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices] Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/journalism [https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/journalism]