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Jessica Bateman

@jessicabateman.bsky.social
912 followers 744 following 183 posts

Berlin-based journalist focused on gender, faith and extremism | Bylines Wash Post, BBC, Guardian, 1843 etc | European Press Prize winner 2025 | Covering Germany for Hyphen

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Jessica Bateman @jessicabateman.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
An absolutely wild couple of paragraphs to come across in an article
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Megan Clement @meganclement.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
Support for survivors of sexual violence should never run down ideological or geopolitical lines. It happens in every conflict and is under-recognised in every conflict.
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Jessica Bateman @jessicabateman.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
This is amazing news for both journalism and democracy! I'm sure the wealthy will continue to abuse and bully journalists via the courts but hopefully cases like this give more publications the courage to stand up to them.
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Jessica Bateman @jessicabateman.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
Further examples of the international far-right's interconnectedness. The women who did the Islamophobic "unveiling" stunt at Saturday's Unite the Kingdom rally were from Collectif Nemesis, a French group that describes itself as "feminist identitarian"
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Jessica Bateman @jessicabateman.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
Recent weeks have seen a barrage of attacks on abortion pill access across the US. One central argument is that remote access allows men to coerce women into abortions. However, when digging into these cases, a very different picture emerges. Me for @newrepublic.com newrepublic.com/article/2101...
newrepublic.com
The Anti-Abortion Movement’s Alarming Control Tactics
A series of lawsuits allege that women are being coerced into having abortions by friends, ex-partners, or others who are close to them. But the accused are rarely the real abusers in these stories.
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Jessica Bateman @jessicabateman.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
I vividly remember Deborah's beautiful pandemic-era piece about connecting with the family named on the Stolpersteine outside her apartment. It's lovely to read a more in-depth piece about Sonja, how her personal story intertwines with Europe's history, and the importance of reckoning with the past.
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Jessica Bateman @jessicabateman.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
This is fascinating. Another study found a similar pattern in the UK - areas with pub closures had high levels of UKIP support. "When there is no longer any place to talk to each other, politics becomes a face-off between the isolated individual and the grand narratives of the media."
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Jessica Bateman @jessicabateman.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
An 18-year-old jailed for a neo-Nazi terror attack the day before the UK's biggest ever far-right march is set to take place. Something is very wrong.
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Jessica Bateman @jessicabateman.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
This is clearly terrible, but also, what kind of communications crisis are we living in for people to be completely unaware of these things? There are many institutions at fault here, not just Reform themselves
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Jessica Bateman @jessicabateman.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
This story is absolutely wild. Excellent reporting.
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Jessica Bateman @jessicabateman.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
This is a really interesting thread breaking down why the Met Gala infuriates so many people. My hot take on the subject is that I love seeing the creativity and craftsmanship on display each year, and I can think of far more offensive examples of "wealth porn" (e.g. superyachts)
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Jessica Bateman @jessicabateman.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
Increasingly feels like antisemitism has become nothing but a political football in UK politics and not something that either camp has any real interest in identifying, confronting and dismantling
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Jessica Bateman @jessicabateman.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
The block – then temporary restoration – of abortion pill mifepristone by mail has left women in the US completely confused on the drug's legal status. One provider says they have had panicked patients ask if they are allowed to take pills they have already received. www.politico.com/news/2026/05...
politico.com
Supreme Court restores abortion pill access — for now
Justice Samuel Alito froze an appeals court ruling that limited access to the drug used in two-thirds of abortions.
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Jessica Bateman @jessicabateman.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
This biopic would have been a bad idea no matter what but it feels particularly bleak for it to have been released in the wake of the Epstein files, at a time when we are still lacking serious conversations on how we treat and respond to survivors variety.com/2026/film/bo...
variety.com
‘Michael’ Rocks Box Office With Record-Setting $97 Million Debut
"Michael," a biopic about the King of Pop, arrived in theaters as an instant sensation with $97 million domestically and $217 million globally.
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Jessica Bateman @jessicabateman.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
For those into niche British pop culture, I just found out the AI-using writer Alex Preston is the older brother of Samuel Preston from The Ordinary Boys - aka one half of Preston and Chantelle
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Jessica Bateman @jessicabateman.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
Really looking forward to chairing this panel on longform journalism in Europe at @journalismfestival.com, alongside @willcoldwell.bsky.social and editors from @politiken.dk and @ftweekend.com. Give me a shout if you're planning on heading to Perugia!
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Hildur Knútsdóttir @hildur.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
I regularly see people wondering how it's possible that there are so many musicians and writers and film makers and artists from a tiny nation like Iceland. And the answer is really simple: State funding for art education and artists. I literally get a salary from the government to write books.
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Jessica Bateman @jessicabateman.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
Many of the Iranian human rights activists I've interviewed have been calling for this for a long time. The EU has also passed targeted sanctions on regime officials (another request by activists). www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...
theguardian.com
EU designates Iran’s Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organisation
‘Any organisation that kills thousands of its own people is working toward its own demise,’ says Kaja Kallas
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Jessica Bateman @jessicabateman.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
Question for all #Iran watchers: does it feel like there is way more information warfare being waged over the recent uprisings than there was in 2022? I don't remember seeing anywhere near this level of clashing narratives and suspicious online activity during the Woman, Life, Freedom protests
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Gareth Watkins @garethwatkins.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
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Jessica Bateman @jessicabateman.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
Germany is home to the largest Iranian diaspora in Europe. At protests in Berlin, many told me they want to see European leaders take "real action" against Tehran - such as expelling ambassadors, targeted sanctions, and the classification of the Revolutionary Guard as a terror group
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Anna Bower @annabower.bsky.social · 20/01/2026
this place needs more jokes about the brooklyn beckham wedding drama
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Jessica Bateman @jessicabateman.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
"What has unsettled me more is how quickly Venezuelans ceased to be the subject of the story at all. Almost immediately, the media coverage migrated elsewhere toward abstractions of power and sovereignty, international law." Via @unbiasthenews.bsky.social unbiasthenews.org/venezuela-wi...
unbiasthenews.org
Venezuela without Venezuelans - Unbias The News
As bombs fall and power shifts, Venezuela is reframed as a geopolitical case study, while the voices of those living through the crisis are pushed aside. The gap between global commentary and lived re...
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Jessica Bateman @jessicabateman.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
How hard could it really be for Novara Media to find a left-wing Iranian to write about this topic instead? Certain people need to pass the mic and sit this one out.
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Jack Jenkins @jackjenkins.me · 06/01/2026
Fascinating: Miller rails against neoliberalism here and dismisses the world order the U.S. largely established post-WWII. Neoliberalism has MANY critics (particularly progressives), but Miller is insisting the U.S. act like a superpower while decrying…how it became a superpower in the first place?
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Jessica Bateman @jessicabateman.bsky.social · 05/01/2026
Honestly incredible
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Jessica Bateman @jessicabateman.bsky.social · 05/01/2026
I see some white Western "leftists" are doing to Venezuelans what they previously did to Syrians: dismissing their voices and lived experience while positioning themselves as the true experts. Some leftists' racism always comes out when minority groups don't behave the way they believe they should.
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Jessica Bateman @jessicabateman.bsky.social · 05/01/2026
Feel like this point should be more central to some of the current discussions. Trump did not single handedly destroy the international order - there are many institutions and individuals who need to do some self-reflection. From www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...
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James Ball @jamesrball.com · 03/01/2026
Rules-based international order has had a rough couple of decades, but this pretty much ends it entirely. Both the strikes and the capture of Maduro are also blatant violations of US domestic law too, of course.
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Jessica Bateman @jessicabateman.bsky.social · 30/12/2025
This is one of the first German habits I picked up. Still don't drink sparkling water, still don't really like pickles, but damn my brain is now fully programmed to WAIT for that green man no matter how empty the street.
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Jessica Bateman @jessicabateman.bsky.social · 30/12/2025
Germany may be famous for its memory culture, in which the horrors of the Holocaust and the Nazi regime are commemorated in monuments and days of remembrance, but reflecting on what one’s own family may have done during this period is often more taboo. I met some of the people trying to change this.
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Johannes Spohr @jspohr.bsky.social · 29/12/2025
Vor kurzem hat @jessicabateman.bsky.social mich für @theobserveruk.bsky.social zu einem Recherche-Workshop zum Nationalsozialismus in der eigenen Familie in München begleitet – und sie ist den Geschichten einiger Teilnehmer*innen weiter gefolgt.
observer.co.uk
‘My grandfather was a Wehrmacht soldier. It left him a br...
More Germans are trying to discover what their ancestors did in the second world war – and if they were involved in its crimes
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Jessica Bateman @jessicabateman.bsky.social · 22/12/2025
Ten years on from Merkel's "wir schaffen das", German politicians are now asking Syrians to return home. I marked this bittersweet anniversary by profiling five Syrians who came to Germany as refugees and have changed the country in profound ways - from LGBT activists to artists and doctors.
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Jessica Bateman @jessicabateman.bsky.social · 18/12/2025
The "year in review" madness needs to stop. I don't want to be reminded of all the intricate personal data I feed to tech companies every day – please just stay quiet about it. And no I DO NOT want to see my LinkedIn "year in review", what kind of sicko do you think I am?
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Jessica Bateman @jessicabateman.bsky.social · 18/12/2025
Once again, never forget the role the richest man in the world played in this
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Katy Lee @katyinparis.bsky.social · 18/12/2025
A little bright spark in the winter gloom: A citizens' initiative designed to allow women in EU countries with draconian abortion laws to get care *elsewhere* in Europe has passed in the European Parliament. The European Commission will now have to respond www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/pres...
europarl.europa.eu
‘My Voice, My Choice’: MEPs support citizens’ initiative on accessible abortion | News | European Parliament
On Wednesday, MEPs endorsed a European citizens’ initiative to improve access to abortion care for women in Europe through a voluntary opt-in financial solidarity mechanism.
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Jessica Bateman @jessicabateman.bsky.social · 16/12/2025
The German Press Council has ruled that tabloid BILD violated the press code by describing Al Jazeera journalist Anas Al-Sharif as a "Hamas leader" without evidence www.presserat.de/presse-nachr...
presserat.de
Presserat entscheidet über Massenbeschwerde - Presserat
Mehr als 300 Menschen hatten sich beim Presserat gemeldet und über eine Nahost-Berichterstattung beschwert.
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Jessica Bateman @jessicabateman.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
"[The older British media class] believe their own politics to be neutral, impartial- and other people’s politics to be the aberration, or doctrinaire, a belief egged on by the fact that most of the media agrees with them. Orthodoxies are for other people." A must-read from @lewisgoodall.com
goodallandgoodluck.substack.com
The truth about impartiality at the BBC
And the hysteria of the current "crisis"
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Jessica Bateman @jessicabateman.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
This is a really illuminating piece from @nstamouli.bsky.social on what the future of Europe could look like as we head into COP30: climate refugees are not a concept from the distant future, they are on the continent right now. www.politico.eu/article/euro...
politico.eu
Europe’s climate refugees: The Greek communities wiped off the map
Villages in the country’s agricultural breadbasket lie half-abandoned two years after catastrophic floods.
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Jessica Bateman @jessicabateman.bsky.social · 05/11/2025
360 by Charli xcx is actually about Zohran Mamdani
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Jessica Bateman @jessicabateman.bsky.social · 04/11/2025
This was a fascinating listen on the role religion has played in the NYC Mayoral election and the myriad of ways faith can shape our politics and voting habits www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w...
bbc.co.uk
BBC World Service - Heart and Soul, Mamdani New York
Religion’s role in Zohran Mamdani’s meteoric rise in New York’s political scene.
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Jessica Bateman @jessicabateman.bsky.social · 02/11/2025
New work for @theobserveruk.bsky.social: I took a look at why sobriety is on the rise in Berlin, the world's capital of hedonism, and whether drug-free parties could help save nightlife venues from closure observer.co.uk/news/interna...
observer.co.uk
Berlin clubs kick the drug habit as sober nights lure crowds
The world’s unofficial nightlife capital is embracing a surprising narcotics-free trend among ravers
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Jessica Bateman @jessicabateman.bsky.social · 13/10/2025
As Ian Watkins was back in the news recently, it's worth remembering that police received complaints about him almost five years before he was arrested. The women who reported him were dismissed as "crazy exes." He was only charged after his computer was searched as part of a drugs-related raid.
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Jessica Bateman @jessicabateman.bsky.social · 07/10/2025
Horrific news out of Germany: a newly elected mayor in North-Rhine Westphalia – Iris Stalzer of the Social Democrats – is critically injured after being stabbed multiple times by an unknown perpetrator[s]. www.tagesschau.de/eilmeldung/a...
tagesschau.de
Neue Bürgermeisterin von Herdecke bei Messerangriff verletzt
Auf die neu gewählte Bürgermeisterin der Stadt Herdecke, Iris Stalzer, ist ein Messerangriff verübt worden. Nach Angaben der Polizei wurde sie dabei lebensgefährlich verletzt. Die Hintergründe der Tat...
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Jessica Bateman @jessicabateman.bsky.social · 16/09/2025
Always had a soft spot for these guys, they seem fun ngl
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Robert Evans (the Only Robert Evans) @iwriteok.bsky.social · 16/09/2025
This is the most detailed look inside Tyler Robinson's Discord community I've seen and yet again, it gives us absolutely no clear motivation, political in or otherwise. www.kenklippenstein.com/p/exclusive-...
kenklippenstein.com
Exclusive: Leaked Messages from Charlie Kirk Assassin
Accused shooter’s “politics” is not what government and media say
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Jessica Bateman @jessicabateman.bsky.social · 16/09/2025
A must-read here
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It's Pipes, Mum! Pipes is here! @scriblit.bsky.social · 16/09/2025
Good of the telegraph to remind us that as well as racist coked up men with prior convictions for dv, the racist march led by a racist that descended into racist violence also included some racists who shop at oliver bonas & think running the church fete tombola makes them nice people
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Jessica Bateman @jessicabateman.bsky.social · 14/09/2025
This week many British parents found themselves being educated by their kids on who Kirk was. Debates about him popped up in unusual places, from local Facebook groups to Football Twitter. I took at look at how the commentator amassed his surprising UK following: www.politico.com/news/magazin...
politico.com
Turning Point Failed in the UK. Charlie Kirk Didn’t.
The late conservative activist has amassed a surprising following across the Atlantic.
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