Sign in

Jacob Kushner

@jacobkushner.bsky.social
141 followers 50 following 76 posts

International Journalist - linktr.ee/JacobKushner Author: LOOK AWAY - bit.ly/LookAwayBook Visiting Professor, Columbia Journalism School journalism.columbia.edu/directory/j… jacobkushner.com

PostsRepliesMedia
Jacob Kushner @jacobkushner.bsky.social · 18h
“If we can have arguments like this,” said a friend who fled Haiti in 2024, “it means we’re still alive.” Pooja Bhatia for @equatormag.bsky.social on Haiti’s famed Oloffson Hotel, where I used to file my stories. www.equator.org/articles/hot... @bhatiap.bsky.social
equator.org
After the Dance • EQUATOR
A dream died when Haiti’s Hotel Oloffson burned to the ground. Can it be recovered?
022
Jacob Kushner @jacobkushner.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
How One Woman Defined Africa for Millions of Chinese Readers: I spoke with the @chinagsproject.bsky.social about my @nowvoyagermagazine.bsky.social deep dive into the famous writer Sanmao. Read: nowvoyagermag.com/reporting/st... Watch: youtu.be/6d97HA5KalU?...
000
Jacob Kushner @jacobkushner.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Find out why I embarked on a 7-year odyssey to 6 countries on 4 continents, to find out whether Sanmao's Africa--China's Africa--exists. nowvoyagermag.com/reporting/st... @nowvoyagermagazine.bsky.social
nowvoyagermag.com
Sanmao Introduced Chinese Readers to Africa. But Were Her Stories True?
Millions of Chinese readers discovered the Sahara through Sanmao’s stories. Jacob Kushner revisits episodes from her life and asks how much of what she wrote was true.
000
Jacob Kushner @jacobkushner.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
The Chinese writer Sanmao has moved millions of people. Literally. Each week, thousands of tourists flock to her birthplace in Chongqing. Thousands more travel to the Sahara and Spain in her footsteps. nowvoyagermagazine.substack.com/p/searching-... @nowvoyagermagazine.bsky.social
000
Jacob Kushner @jacobkushner.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Behind the scenes: I spoke with @nowvoyagermagazine.bsky.social about my journey following one of China’s most elusive writers across the world. Did Sanmao's Africa exist? Searching for Sanmao’s Sahara: nowvoyagermagazine.substack.com/p/searching-...
nowvoyagermagazine.substack.com
Searching for Sanmao’s Sahara
Jacob Kushner discusses his reported featured STORYTELLER OF THE SAHARA, published in the second issue of NOW VOYAGER.
000
Reposted by Jacob Kushner
Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Nairobi’s poorest residents have long found uncertain refuge in settlements along the city’s rivers. As floods and drought in rural areas drive more Kenyans to Nairobi, many are forced to trade one environmentally precarious situation for another. @jacobkushner.bsky.social reports from Nairobi:
placesjournal.org
Doubly Displaced
Fleeing floods and drought in rural areas, Kenyans find precarious refuge along Nairobi rivers. Now, residents say the city’s Climate Action Plan is being weaponized against them.
073
Jacob Kushner @jacobkushner.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
“I tried investigating a mysterious media company. A police report was filed against me.” www.cjr.org/feature/i-tr... For @columjournreview.bsky.social my former student @riddhisetty.bsky.social investigated a media mogul who frauded freelancers—including me.
cjr.org
I tried investigating a mysterious media company. A police report was filed against me.
Who was in charge—Pleroma, the International Business Times, or something else?
000
Reposted by Jacob Kushner
Places Journal @placesjournal.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
"For thousands of people whose homes were flooded in 2024, their troubles didn’t end when the water receded. The government came for them next." @jacobkushner.bsky.social on the precarity of life in informal settlements outside Nairobi, where residents say climate action is weaponized against them.
placesjournal.org
Doubly Displaced
Fleeing floods and drought in rural areas, Kenyans find precarious refuge along Nairobi rivers. Now, residents say the city’s Climate Action Plan is being weaponized against them.
021
Jacob Kushner @jacobkushner.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
For 3 years, I followed one community through an endless cycle of floods, demolitions, and evictions, in a single Nairobi slum. For @placesjournal.bsky.social, my deep dive into how the city's poorest residents are being evicted in the name of "climate resilience" placesjournal.org/article/doub...
placesjournal.org
Doubly Displaced
Fleeing floods and drought in rural areas, Kenyans find precarious refuge along Nairobi rivers. Now, residents say the city’s Climate Action Plan is being weaponized against them.
055
Jacob Kushner @jacobkushner.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
I went on Polish TV to talk about how the media ought to navigate misleading, anti-immigrant narratives, here and around the world: www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2LT... @tvpworld.bsky.social Thanks @maiamazurkiewicz.bsky.social With Anna Alboth @columbiajournalism.bsky.social
000
Jacob Kushner @jacobkushner.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
The new Syria has not dismantled the old prison system — The Dial www.thedial.world/articles/new... @thedialmag.bsky.social
thedial.world
“There Is Nothing More Nightmarish” — The Dial
The new Syria has not dismantled the old prison system.
010
Reposted by Jacob Kushner
Now Voyager @nowvoyagermagazine.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
As China rises to fill the void left by America’s global geopolitical retreat, and as more Chinese people travel and migrate around the world, why does Sanmao’s version of Africa still have such an unparalleled pull on millions of Chinese? @jacobkushner.bsky.social: nowvoyagermag.com/reporting/st...
nowvoyagermag.com
Sanmao Introduced Chinese Readers to Africa. But Were Her Stories True?
Millions of Chinese readers discovered the Sahara through Sanmao’s stories. Jacob Kushner revisits episodes from her life and asks how much of what she wrote was true.
011
Jacob Kushner @jacobkushner.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
7 years in the making, this feature took me to six countries on 4 continents. The epic story of the famous writer turned travel influencer who became China’s literary lens into Africa, and the world. But was Sanmao’s Africa real? nowvoyagermag.com/ @nowvoyagermagazine.bsky.social
011
Jacob Kushner @jacobkushner.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
Thank you for reading, and for paying attention to far-right terror today
021
Jacob Kushner @jacobkushner.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
Congrats to Carolina Abbott Galvão for publishing this fascinating story in The Dial magazine, thanks to a connection she made with editor Mara Wilson at the Columbia Journalism School Freelance Fair: www.thedial.world/articles/new... @columbiajournalism.bsky.social @thedialmag.bsky.social
thedial.world
Under the Cowboy Hat — The Dial
How agribusiness took over Brazilian country music.
020
Jacob Kushner @jacobkushner.bsky.social · 11/12/2025
"Gaza resembles one huge cemetery where time is obliterated and there is no longer any distinction between past, present, and future. All I can think of is how to escape." @thedialmag.bsky.social www.thedial.world/articles/new...
thedial.world
Looking at America From Gaza — The Dial
“At times I see it as a site of exclusion and segregation, and at other times as the specter of another possible life.”
010
Jacob Kushner @jacobkushner.bsky.social · 11/12/2025
"We were so accustomed to watching the news and seeing images of buildings being destroyed, of dead bodies, of blood, but they were always in the Arab world. Now, the same thing was happening in the heart of the United States." www.thedial.world/articles/new... @thedialmag.bsky.social
thedial.world
Looking at America From Gaza — The Dial
“At times I see it as a site of exclusion and segregation, and at other times as the specter of another possible life.”
010
Jacob Kushner @jacobkushner.bsky.social · 11/12/2025
"Why was America doing all this?" Looking at America from Gaza. By Muhammad al-Zaqzouq for @thedialmag.bsky.social www.thedial.world/articles/new...
thedial.world
Looking at America From Gaza — The Dial
“At times I see it as a site of exclusion and segregation, and at other times as the specter of another possible life.”
010
Jacob Kushner @jacobkushner.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
Layoffs at CBS, NBC, and Teen Vogue show a shift in newsroom priorities away from the promises of 2020: @riddhisetty.bsky.social for @columjournreview.bsky.social www.cjr.org/the_media_to...
cjr.org
Has the media reached the end of its DEI era?
Layoffs at CBS, NBC, and Teen Vogue show a shift in newsroom priorities away from the promises of 2020.
010
Jacob Kushner @jacobkushner.bsky.social · 17/10/2025
Guantánamo's Secret History — Trump isn’t the first U.S. president to use the military base to incarcerate migrants. www.thedial.world/articles/new... @thedialmag.bsky.social
thedial.world
Guantánamo's Secret History — The Dial
Trump isn't the first president to use the military base for the U.S.'s dirty secrets
020
Jacob Kushner @jacobkushner.bsky.social · 27/09/2025
Kenya’s Growing Carbon Market Is a Setback for Indigenous Land Rights - Anthony Langat for @earthislandjournal.bsky.social www.earthisland.org/journal/inde...
earthisland.org
Kenya’s Growing Carbon Market Is a Setback for Indigenous Land Rights
Indigenous Ogiek say they are being evicted from their ancestral land to facilitate trading schemes.
020
Jacob Kushner @jacobkushner.bsky.social · 21/09/2025
“Am I Now in Exile?” Fleeing Bukele, by El Faro journalists for @thedialmag.bsky.social www.thedial.world/articles/new...
thedial.world
Fleeing Bukele — The Dial
Journalists in El Salvador are under heightened scrutiny. Many have been forced to leave.
011
Reposted by Jacob Kushner
Long Lead @longlead.com · 10/09/2025
The feature focuses on how Canaan, Haiti's residents built their city brick by brick following the nation's 2010 apocalyptic earthquake, only to experience the fall of their nation. Read AN UNNATURAL DISASTER, by @jacobkushner.bsky.social, today: haiti.longlead.com/
haiti.longlead.com
Canaan rose from an earthquake. Can it survive Haiti’s fall?
Questions come with building a city: How do we electrify homes? Who will form a government? Can police protect us from gangs?
001
Jacob Kushner @jacobkushner.bsky.social · 29/08/2025
Kenya Police Harass Human Rights Watch Staff Member: www.hrw.org/news/2025/08... @hrw.org
hrw.org
Kenya: Police Harass Human Rights Watch Staff Member
The Kenyan police should end its apparent harassment of Otsieno Namwaya, associate Africa director at Human Rights Watch, over his work documenting serious rights abuses in Kenya.
020
Jacob Kushner @jacobkushner.bsky.social · 18/08/2025
Israel has now killed at least 184 journalists in Palestine--at least 26 deliberately. For @columjournreview.bsky.social, here's what nearly two dozen journalists and human rights experts say we must do: www.cjr.org/feature/urge... @columbiajournalism.bsky.social @azmatzahra.bsky.social
cjr.org
Urgent Ideas for Defending Press Freedom in Gaza
Letters, condemnations, and Israeli court cases have failed to change the world’s deadliest place for journalists. We’ve cast out for a new approach.
120
Jacob Kushner @jacobkushner.bsky.social · 15/08/2025
In Kenya, Gen Z Battles Corruption and Police Violence - For @hammerandhope.bsky.social Nanjala Nyabola chronicles Kenyan President @williamruto.bsky.social murderous regime: hammerandhope.org/article/keny...
hammerandhope.org
In Kenya, Gen Z Battles Corruption and Police Violence
What keeps the Ruto administration running from crisis to crisis remains a complete unwillingness to listen to people and an unswerving commitment to responding to any form of dissent with violence.
000
Jacob Kushner @jacobkushner.bsky.social · 11/08/2025
Thanks Molly Donnellan for nominating me and to all those who wrote letters including Kem Sawyer, Jon Sawyer, Dee Hall, Andy Hall, Sarah Ripp and @pablomuirhead.bsky.social
000
Jacob Kushner @jacobkushner.bsky.social · 11/08/2025
I'm honored to be awarded the University of Wisconsin-Madison 2025 Forward Award! Check out the other recipients uwalumni.com/about/alumni... and read my write-up here: uwalumni.com/news/jacob-k... @wisalumni.bsky.social @uwsjmc.bsky.social @uwmadison.bsky.social
111
Jacob Kushner @jacobkushner.bsky.social · 05/08/2025
URGENT: My good friend of 20 years, the journalist @alecluhn.bsky.social , is missing. Friends in Norway: please reach out to anyone you know who was hiking Ullensvang on the northern edge of Folgefonna since last week. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...
theguardian.com
Rescuers in Norway resume search for journalist missing in wilderness
Bad weather hampers search for Alec Luhn after he set out for solo hike in remote Folgefonna national park
000
Jacob Kushner @jacobkushner.bsky.social · 30/07/2025
As Kenya’s protests intensified, two friends bled on opposite sides. By @khoureld.bsky.social www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0... "Young Kenyans continue to risk their lives in protests over corruption and police brutality. Others are being recruited as “goons” to menace the protesters."
washingtonpost.com
010
Jacob Kushner @jacobkushner.bsky.social · 29/07/2025
Thanks to @clarissaleon.bsky.social and the many other editors who attended our 2025 Freelance Fair documentedny.com/2025/07/25/m... @columbiajournalism.bsky.social
documentedny.com
Misplaced Bodies and Mishandled Funds: Repatriation of Deceased Immigrants - Documented
The repatriation process is complex and costly — and for many, it's just another difficult part of the immigrant experience.
011
Jacob Kushner @jacobkushner.bsky.social · 29/07/2025
Misplaced Bodies and Mishandled Funds: recent Columbia Journalism graduate @tanyaraghu.bsky.social on the Repatriation of Deceased Immigrants, for @documentedny.bsky.social
100
Jacob Kushner @jacobkushner.bsky.social · 17/07/2025
For The Dial, I blurbed The Lucky Ones, by Zara Chowdhary. Check out all of The Dial's Best Books of Summer 2025: www.thedial.world/summer-readi... @thedialmag.bsky.social @awarazara.bsky.social ‬
042
Jacob Kushner @jacobkushner.bsky.social · 19/06/2025
"Understanding the costs of a war should be an obligation of every citizen of every state that wages one.” -Azmat Khan, This Alabaster Grave, a new photobook by Cengiz Yar on life, death, and humanity in Mosul, Iraq. @azmatzahra.bsky.social @cengizyar.com www.cengizyar.com/book/this-al...
020
Jacob Kushner @jacobkushner.bsky.social · 08/06/2025
"It’s not uncommon now to find African students in China sharing Nigerian jollof or Ethiopian injera while discussing Beijing’s censorship of the internet." China’s Quiet Win: Outmaneuvering U.S. for Africa’s Future Leaders @lattif.bsky.social for @nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/2025/06/07/w...
nytimes.com
China’s Quiet Win: Outmaneuvering U.S. for Africa’s Future Leaders
000
Jacob Kushner @jacobkushner.bsky.social · 06/06/2025
‘You Leave with Nothing’: Haitians Face Impossible Choice After Supreme Court Decision. Read this urgent piece by my @columbiajournalism.bsky.social student (now alumna 👩‍🎓) Béatrice Vallières: documentedny.com/2025/06/05/h...
documentedny.com
'You Leave with Nothing': Haitians Face Impossible Choice After Supreme Court Decision - Documented
As humanitarian protections vanish overnight, thousands of Haitians in the U.S. weigh the dangers of detention against the risks of returning to a country in crisis.
000
Jacob Kushner @jacobkushner.bsky.social · 25/05/2025
1 Writing Class, 35 Years, 113 Deals, 95 Books. Congrats to my mentor, and colleague, Sam Freedman on an incredible career. Great writeup by @emmagoldberg.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/05/25/b... @columbiajournalism.bsky.social
nytimes.com
1 Writing Class, 35 Years, 113 Deals, 95 Books
001
Jacob Kushner @jacobkushner.bsky.social · 19/05/2025
The Human Zoo — In the 1990s, a French theme park exhibited musicians from Côte d’Ivoire alongside exotic animals. www.thedial.world/articles/new... “Indeed, one might be shocked to see this African safari on French soil." @thedialmag.bsky.social
thedial.world
The Human Zoo — The Dial
In the 1990s, a French theme park exhibited musicians from Côte d’Ivoire alongside exotic animals.
010
Jacob Kushner @jacobkushner.bsky.social · 15/05/2025
"In Pinellas County, Florida, a man on trial for killing an attorney told a judge he needed more time to find legal representation." @harpers.bsky.social harpers.org/2025/05/week...
harpers.org
Weekly Review, by Harper’s Magazine
It was reported that ravioli had been banned from being served to the College of Cardinals for fear that the stuffed pasta might contain secret messages, an MIT professor calculated a 90 percent proba...
000
Jacob Kushner @jacobkushner.bsky.social · 09/05/2025
Even better: Check out the competition! I'm in good company, with incredible reporting by Ryan Brown for @thedialmag.bsky.social Dana Hourany on Lebanon's lost villages, & Forbidden Stories for investigating Israel's killing of journalists in Gaza. @oneworldmedia.bsky.social haiti.longlead.com
haiti.longlead.com
Canaan rose from an earthquake. Can it survive Haiti’s fall?
Questions come with building a city: How do we electrify homes? Who will form a government? Can police protect us from gangs?
010
Jacob Kushner @jacobkushner.bsky.social · 09/05/2025
Honored to be shortlisted for the One World Media Print Award for my 8-year Haiti investigation, An Unnatural Disaster, along with photographer Allison Shelley & editor Pooja Bhatia! Haiti.longlead.com @longlead.com with support from the @pulitzercenter.bsky.social @oneworldmedia.bsky.social
012
Jacob Kushner @jacobkushner.bsky.social · 07/05/2025
You asked me about it and challenged my assumptions. You edited chapters yourselves. You sent me photos every time you saw saw it in a bookstore. Please, if you haven't--consider ordering the book, audiobook, or eBook wherever books are sold. bit.ly/LookAwayBook
bit.ly
Look Away
A thrilling narrative investigation into the National Socialist Underground (NSU)—a German terror organization that targeted immigrants—and how a govern...
000
Jacob Kushner @jacobkushner.bsky.social · 07/05/2025
Some of you reviewed it, in The New York Review of Books, Foreign Policy, and more. @nybooks.com @foreignpolicy.com @thebaffler.com Thank you--all of you--for all your help with the most ambitious project of my career. bit.ly/LookAwayBook
110
Jacob Kushner @jacobkushner.bsky.social · 07/05/2025
Many of you helped me launch it, by turning out to my book talks--first in New York (pictured here) and soon in Washington DC, Milwaukee, and Madison. You came to support me all over Germany--Berlin, Leipzig, Freiburg, Heidelberg. @seywarddarby.bsky.social
100
Jacob Kushner @jacobkushner.bsky.social · 07/05/2025
One year ago today: I published my book, Look Away, about a plot to rid Germany of immigrants. Sadly, in the U.S. and across the world, it's as timely now as ever before. bit.ly/LookAwayBook @grandcentralpub.bsky.social
100
Jacob Kushner @jacobkushner.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
Congrats to my former journalism student, 2025 Wolff Fellowship recipient Cat Carroll, who will spend the next year reporting on global migration in seven different countries: ls.wisc.edu/news/tracing... @cgcarroll.bsky.social @uwethics.bsky.social attn. @columbiajournalism.bsky.social
ls.wisc.edu
Tracing the Paths of Migration
022
Jacob Kushner @jacobkushner.bsky.social · 14/04/2025
Happening now! New York's mayoral candidates being grilled by our Columbia Journalism students *Watch it live here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=OV_T... @columbiajournalism.bsky.social
youtube.com
A Vision for New York City: Mayoral Forum at Columbia Journalism School
YouTube video by Columbia Journalism School
010
Jacob Kushner @jacobkushner.bsky.social · 13/04/2025
Officials in Somaliland believe President Trump will grant their ultimate wish: statehood. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/12/w... @lattif.bsky.social
nytimes.com
How Trump Offers This African Territory Its ‘Biggest Opportunity’
After years of building relationships with congressional Republicans and conservative think tanks, officials in Somaliland believe President Trump will grant their ultimate wish: statehood.
000
Reposted by Jacob Kushner
The Dial @thedialmag.bsky.social · 02/04/2025
2/2 And congratulations to Dial contributors @jacobkushner.bsky.social and Clair MacDougall who were also longlisted for the Print Award for their work in The Long Lead and New Lines Magazine. See the full list: oneworldmedia.org.uk/awards/longl...
oneworldmedia.org.uk
Longlist 2025
Presenting One World Media's 2024 Awards Longlist
011
Jacob Kushner @jacobkushner.bsky.social · 04/04/2025
Chilling. Heartbreaking. Finding Shadi: A Syrian Father’s 12-Year Search for His Missing Son. @bcsolomon.bsky.social for @wsj.com www.wsj.com/video/series...
wsj.com
Finding Shadi: A Syrian Father’s 12-Year Search for His Missing Son
A Syrian man holds out hope that videos show his son fleeing Saydnaya prison after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime. The Journal joins the father’s search for more clues about his fate.
000