Journalists in Times of Darkness

An unflinching portrait of the press at a turning point for global democracy—told through the voices of the world's leading journalists

Journalists in Times of Darkness is a powerful, polyphonic chronicle of journalism under siege. In the age of disinformation, editorial director Fernando Belzunce brings together over one hundred voices from across the globe—Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winners, war correspondents, exiled reporters, fact-checkers, rising stars, and global icons—to create an urgent portrait of a profession in crisis. From the repression in Myanmar and censorship in Nicaragua to threats from cartels, populist regimes, and terrorist groups, the book explores the high personal cost of defending truth when truth itself is under attack.

Told in a fast-paced, direct, and deeply emotional narrative style, the book weaves together powerful testimonies and first-hand accounts—from newsrooms, war zones, halls of power, and forgotten peripheries. It opens with Nobel laureate Svetlana Alexievich (author of the widely translated The Unwomanly Face of War) and closes with Martin Baron, former executive editor of The Washington Post. Along the way, it features contributions from internationally acclaimed figures such as MarIa Ressa, Joe Kahn, Ann Marie Lipinski, Lyse Doucet, Roula Khalaf, and Rachel Armstrong, among many others.

Belzunce, who experienced terrorist threats while leading El Correo during ETA’s violence, writes with urgency and conviction from inside the newsroom and beyond. The result is a vital, timely book that reminds us: journalism may not exist to change the world—but without it, citizens lose the ability to choose freely.

With contributions from Svetlana Alexievich and Martin Baron, along with over 100 journalists from around the world