Evan Gershkovich

Hypocritical Commemorations

Selected days for commemoration serve one fundamental purpose. Centrally, they acknowledge the forgotten or neglected, while proposing to do nothing about it. It’s the priest’s confession, the chance for absolution before the next round of soiling. These occasions are often money-making exercises for canny businesses: the days put aside to remember mothers and fathers, for […]

“Journalism is Not a Crime”

May 3 marks the 30th anniversary of Press Freedom Day, inaugurated in 1993 by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) with support from the United Nations (UNESCO). RSF’s original 1991 report provided a “round-up of journalists killed throughout the world” and laid the groundwork for what eventually became the Press Freedom Index, which now ranks freedom of […]