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Alumni-Faculty Forum — Truth to Power: Journalism’s Role in Defending Democracy

Saturday, May 23 @ 10:30 am - 11:45 am
McCosh Hall, Room 50
Princeton University Alumni-Faculty Forum

Sponsored by the Alumni Association of Princeton University 

Moderator:

Deborah Amos
Ferris Professor of Journalism in Residence

 

Panelists:     

Thomas “T.R.” Reid ’66
Reporter, Author

Andie Tucher ’76
H. Gordon Garbedian Professor of Journalism, Columbia University

Maria Ressa ’86
CEO and Co-founder of Rappler, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Professor of Practice, Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA)

Josh Boak ’01
White House Reporter, Associated Press


MODERATOR

Deborah Amos
A longtime international correspondent, Deborah Amos spent much of her award-winning career at National Public Radio. Her reporting on the Middle East and refugees in the U.S. has been regularly featured on NPR’s “Morning Edition,” “Weekend Edition” and “All Things Considered.” She recently covered the Syrian and Iraqi refugee crises, the economy in the Middle East and the Arab youth surge. Previously she reported for ABC’s “Nightline” and PBS’s “Frontline.” Amos is the author of two books: “Eclipse of the Sunnis: Power, Exile, and Upheaval in the Middle East,” and “Lines in the Sand: Desert Storm and the Remaking of the Arab World.” She has won several major journalism honors, including a Courage in Journalism Award from the International Women’s Media Foundation, a George Foster Peabody Award, an Edward R. Murrow Lifetime Achievement Award and an Emmy. In May 2026, Amos was awarded an honorary doctorate from the State University of New York at New Paltz.

 

 

PANELISTS

Thomas “T. R.” Reid ’66
T. R. Reid is a reporter, author and documentary filmmaker. At The Washington Post, he covered Congress and four presidential campaigns, and then moved overseas as the paper’s bureau chief in Tokyo and London. He was a regular commentator for 15 years on NPR’s “Morning Edition.” He has written and hosted documentary films for PBS’s “Frontline” and National Geographic TV. Reid has published 10 books in English and three in Japanese. In his 80s, he has become a columnist for AARP The Magazine. He was a member of Princeton’s Board of Trustees and a Ferris Professor of Journalism.

Andie Tucher ’76
Andie Tucher is a historian and journalist who writes on the evolution of conventions of truth-telling in journalism, photography, personal narrative and other nonfiction forms. Her most recent book, “Not Exactly Lying: Fake News and Fake Journalism in American History” (2022), has won multiple awards. She is also the author of “Happily Sometimes After: Discovering Stories from Twelve Generations of an American Family” (2014); “Froth and Scum: Truth, Beauty, Goodness, and the Ax Murder in America’s First Mass Medium” (1994); and many articles in the academic and popular press. Before her role at Columbia, Tucher served as speechwriter for Clinton/Gore ’92. She was also editorial associate to Bill Moyers at Public Affairs Television, editorial producer of the ABC News documentary series “The Twentieth Century” and associate editor of the Columbia Journalism Review. A classics major at Princeton, Tucher holds a Ph.D. in American civilization from New York University.

Maria Ressa ’86
As CEO of Rappler, the top digital-only news site that is leading the fight for press freedom in the Philippines, Maria Ressa endured constant political harassment and arrests by the Duterte government. Rappler’s battle for truth and democracy is the subject of the 2020 Sundance Film Festival documentary “A Thousand Cuts.” For her courage and journalistic integrity, Ressa has received numerous accolades, including the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize. In 2022, she was appointed by the United Nations secretary-general to the leadership panel of the Internet Governance Forum and serves as its vice chair. At SIPA, she co-leads the Technology & Democracy Initiative at the Institute of Global Politics. Ressa’s books include “Seeds of Terror: An Eyewitness Account of Al-Qaeda’s Newest Center of Operations in Southeast Asia,” “From Bin Laden to Facebook: 10 Days of Abduction, 10 Years or Terrorism” and “How to Stand Up to a Dictator.”

Josh Boak ’01
Josh Boak is a White House reporter for The Associated Press (AP). He also covered the U.S. economy and the electorate for AP. Boak initially came to Washington to work on Bob Woodward’s book “Obama’s Wars,” having previously been on the staff of The Chicago Tribune and The Blade (Toledo, Ohio). His reporting has been recognized with the Livingston Award and as a Pulitzer-Prize finalist. He graduated from Princeton with an A.B. in English and received a master’s degree from Columbia University.

Details

Venue

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Speakers
Panelists: Thomas “T.R.” Reid ’66, Reporter, Author; Andie Tucher ’76, H. Gordon Garbedian Professor of Journalism, Columbia University; Maria Ressa ’86, CEO and Co-Founder, Rappler; Professor of Practice, Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA); Josh Boak ’01, White House Reporter, Associated Press
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