Journalism that unpacks the global authoritarian toolkit
Current
Surveillance and Control
Today’s most innovative police states owe more to Mark Zuckerberg than to Joseph Stalin. From weaponizing copyright to biometric syste~ms, in this current we explore the security-technology complex and what’s at the nexus of the apparatus of surveillance and control.
The digital exiles: Why people are abandoning their smartphones
A growing movement of “former screenagers” is calling for a screen-free, surveillance-free life, for a chance to build a future beyond tech capture
The tool Donald Trump might use to crush dissent
Republicans are hoping it’s third-time lucky as they try to force an anti-terror bill, similar to laws found in autocracies, through Congress
The Big Idea
The Age of Exile
What does displacement look like in the era of digital connection? Our series explores how exile has evolved from historical punishment into a defining condition of our time.
Current
Polarization
Who you are and what you believe have been weaponized in new ways in the power struggles of the 21st century. We track what price individuals and societies pay for these identity battles.
Welcome to the age of exile
Most exile journalism documents symptoms. We’re investigating root causes: how displacement has become central to how power operates in the 21st century, how the same networks that enable resistance also enable surveillance, and why sanctuary is shrinking even as exile accelerates.
What we miss when we talk about the “Middle East”
Why journalism that refuses to simplify, refuses to look away from messy, contradictory realities remains essential to telling the story of conflict
The danger of hope
How to persist when disillusion sets in and effecting change can seem like a pipe dream
THE THINKERS
“I don’t have hope, I have anger”
THE THINKERS from Coda Media: bold ideas, urgent questions, and the people behind them.
Recorded at ZEG Storytelling Festival.
From warzones to hospital wards, Dr. Seema Jilani has spent her career confronting the failures of the global aid system. For the pediatrician and humanitarian, compassion isn’t passive — it’s political. She calls out the colonial mindset of international aid, rejects the language of resilience, and urges us to turn righteous anger into action. Here, she reveals why endurance, not hope, is what keeps her going.
Current
Armed Conflict
In this current, we take a deep dive into how digital technology is re-defining armed conflicts
The price of exile: a Syrian photographer trapped by the laws that saved her
Sara Kontar fled Damascus in 2015, expecting to return. Now, nearly a decade later, French law forbids her from visiting Syria without giving up the life she has built in Europe
The empire game 2.0: Through Moscow’s eyes
With the US operation in Iran triggering fresh arms races, Russia’s turn from multipolarity to imperial nostalgia highlights a global order in turmoil—and Moscow’s battle to remain at the center of it
The Big Idea
The Playbook
History doesn’t repeat, but it sure does rhyme. In this special series, we expose the tactics that powerful leaders use to change societies—tactics that follow surprisingly similar patterns wherever they appear
Current
Authoritarian Tech
In this current, stories on how technology has captured every aspect of our lives from intimacy to politics.
The Werewolf game: an interview with Google’s former news chief Richard Gingras
Richard Gingras spent 15 years shaping Google’s relationship with journalism—funding conferences, building friendships, creating dependencies. At a Vienna conference, we asked him to account for the system he architected.
How tech design is always political
Social media companies have made many mistakes over the past 15 years. What if they’re repeated in the so-called AI revolution?
