Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ronan Farrow appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, where the two spoke about journalism, accountability reporting, lack of public trust, and the dangers journalists are increasingly facing worldwide for simply doing their jobs.
His appearance comes alongside the release of HBO documentary Endangered, for which Farrow is an executive producer. The film chronicles four journalists in democratic countries, where freedom of the press would be considered a right. Through documentary footage and individual interviews, the film pieces together the current state of journalism.
The Catch and Kill author unpacked what he’s seen in his own career as a journalist, touching upon the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6. After interviewing many people who participated in the insurrection, Farrow said he really understood that “better reporting” is required in local communities across the United States.
“We need more and better reporting in communities around this country. We need to support our journalists,” he said. “Otherwise, we’re going to have people who are in this state of rage, who are very manipulable by these political leaders, who want to deploy these authoritarian arguments.”
Farrow’s analysis is intertwined with a conversation about the rising divisions and distrust between journalists and the public, and why this growing distance is so dangerous.
“If you don’t have the facts, you can’t create accountability,” Farrow explains, remarking on the consequences of journalism under threat.
He also spoke about the visceral and violent threats journalists face in other parts of the world. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, at least 28 journalists were killed in 2021. Their findings reveal that journalists continue to be targeted for their work.
“We feel very acutely what happens to our colleagues around the world,” Farrow said, also explaining that he has received legal threats and been the subject of smear campaigns as the result of his work in journalism.
“I might be surveilled…there might be smear efforts, but I am reasonably confident I’m not going to wind up dead the next day. That’s not true if you’re a journalist in Russia, Pakistan, and a lot of places.”
