'Protection of independent media can't be taken for granted': NYT international president

Home > National > Diplomacy

'Protection of independent media can't be taken for granted': NYT international president

Published: 16 Oct. 2025, 18:56 Updated: 16 Oct. 2025, 19:14

CHO JUNG-WOO
[email protected]

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

Stephen Dunbar-Johnson, president, international of The New York Times, speaks at the 2025 Korea JoongAng Daily Forum celebrating the 25th anniversary of the paper’s founding, held at the Lotte Hotel in Jung District, central Seoul, on Oct. 16. [PARK SANG-MOON]

Stephen Dunbar-Johnson, the international president of The New York Times, on Thursday underscored the vital role of the free press at a time when journalism faces profound challenges — from digital disruption and political attacks to declining public trust — as he celebrated the 25th anniversary of the paper’s partnership with the Korea JoongAng Daily.

“In liberal democracies today, we cannot take the protection of free speech and a free, independent media for granted,” he said at the 2025 Korea JoongAng Daily Forum at the Lotte Hotel in central Seoul.

He underscored that the free press “uncovers government corruption, keeps leaders honest, institutions trustworthy and markets fair.”

The weakening of the press, Dunbar-Johnson warned, has coincided with increasing hostility toward journalists from political leaders around the world.

“With the press weakened by economic crisis, the intermediation of tech platforms and growing societal distrust, political leaders have launched opportunistic and unprecedented attacks on the rights and legitimacy of the press,” he said. “These attacks have made the job of journalism even harder and more hazardous.”

Dunbar-Johnson further reflected on the enduring association between the two publications and the changing media landscape since the partnership began in 2000.

“The partnership with the JoongAng Ilbo — that The New York Times, initially through the International Herald Tribune, has enjoyed over the last quarter of a century — is really something of note and to celebrate,” he said.

"Especially so, as I can think of few partnerships that, despite being in a sector that has been as buffeted by profound systemic change as ours, not only still endure but still strongly reflect the values with which they were conceived.”

He placed the collaboration in historical perspective, recalling how the early 2000s marked a turning point for global media.

“In 2000, the same year we founded our partnership here in Seoul, only four years earlier, two doctoral students on a college campus in Palo Alto launched a search engine called Backrub,” he said, adding that Backrub was renamed Google.

“A year before our partnership was launched, Naver was founded in Korea. A fundamental, world-warping transformation of the news business had begun.”

The rise of digital technology, he noted, upended the traditional business models that had sustained journalism for a century.

“With the rise of the internet, the advertising model that for a century supported newsrooms around the world simply buckled, causing the rapid loss of journalism jobs and leaving news organizations struggling to pay for original reporting in the public interest,” he said.

Minister of Unification Chung Dong-young, left, delivers the keynote address at the Korea JoongAng Daily Forum at the Lotte Hotel in Jung District, central Seoul, on Oct. 16. [PARK SANG-MOON]

He also pointed to the growing dominance of social media platforms, which have “fueled an ecosystem overrun by misinformation, conspiracy, propaganda and clickbait,” further eroding public trust in the press.

“This has strained the relationship between journalists and readers that is essential for fostering trust and loyalty,” he said.

He described how journalists at The New York Times have faced dangers ranging from physical threats to online harassment.

“Much of the attacks on journalists aim to ensure the press no longer commands the trust of the people it serves — a step that often presages a democracy losing its way,” he said. “And, frankly, they are achieving their objective: allowing powerful interests to craft alternative realities that are immunized against facts and truth.”

Despite the headwinds, Dunbar-Johnson expressed optimism about the future of independent journalism.

He noted that both The New York Times and the JoongAng Media Group are navigating these challenges.

“When two institutions that embody free and independent journalism celebrate a partnership that has endured 25 years — and that, despite the challenges, are finding a way to not just survive but to thrive and reinforce their commitment to independent journalism, we should celebrate wildly and joyously,” he said.

The ceremony, held under the theme “Korea’s New Playbook: Adapting to Tomorrow,” featured keynote speaker Unification Minister Chung Dong-young and special presenter Nexon Korea Senior Vice President Park Jeong-moo, and it brought together more than 200 members of the diplomatic corps and business leaders.

BY CHO JUNG-WOO [[email protected]]