When Shibani Mahtani reopened the Washington Post’s Southeast Asia and Hong Kong bureau in 2018, the paper was in the middle of a major expansion of its foreign coverage, adding correspondents and reestablishing reporting hubs from Seoul to London. She later served as The Post’s international investigative correspondent with a broad mandate across the Asia-Pacific region, reflecting the paper’s commitment to deep, accountability-driven journalism outside of the United States. Since then, however, The Post has shuttered its foreign desk as part of sweeping newsroom layoffs in February 2026. “There is no China bureau, no India bureau, no Southeast Asia bureau,” says Mahtani, winner of the 2026 Shorenstein Journalism Award for excellence in Asia coverage.

Speaking at the October 20 award ceremony, Mahtani, whose role was cut in the layoffs, acknowledged the irony of being honored largely for work at an outlet that has since withdrawn from the region. But in her keynote, titled “What’s Your Agenda?”: Attacks Against the Free Press and Democratic Backsliding in Southeast Asia,” she drew attention to what she called “a more sobering story” of an embattled media environment across Asia, and of what the world loses as a result.

The waning commitment to foreign reporting by outlets like The Post occurs as governments across Asia are increasingly weaponizing their laws against the media – with local news media in places like Hong Kong, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Singapore battered by sustained attacks against the free press – and as funding for independent, nonprofit outlets in the region is drying up following the closure of the U.S. Agency for International Development.

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APARC Director Kiyoteru Tsutsui (left) and Stanford Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education James Hamilton, Hearst Professor of Communication and director of the Journalism Program, present Shibani Mahtani with the 2026 Shorenstein Journalism Award. | Photo credit: Rod Searcey.
 

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Accountability-Driven Investigations Across Asia

The Shorenstein Journalism Award, which carries a $10,000 prize, recognizes outstanding journalists and news outlets who have contributed to a greater understanding of Asia. Sponsored by APARC, it commemorates the legacy of the late Walter H. Shorenstein, the center's benefactor, by honoring two causes he cared about: promoting journalism at its best and an informed understanding of Asia. 

In his welcome remarks, APARC Director Kiyoteru Tsutsui noted that this year’s ceremony marks the 25th anniversary of the Shorenstein Award. “With each new honoree, APARC is proud to carry Walter’s legacy forward and affirm our support for independent, nuanced, fact-based journalism. This commitment is critical as trust in the news media plummets and as the truth, and those who report it, are under attack.”

The 2026 Shorenstein Award honors Mahtani for her original, powerful accountability-driven reporting across the region, particularly Southeast Asia. As he introduced her, James Hamilton, Stanford vice provost for undergraduate education, the director of the Journalism Program, and a member of the Shorenstein Award judging committee, cited her chronicling of Beijing’s crackdown on Hong Kong; exposés on China’s quest to reshape Asia in its image; reporting on transnational repression; and investigations into the rise of organized crime syndicates connected to state actors. As the award judging committee put it, Mahtani “has broken stories that others would not or could not report.”

Following her keynote, Hamilton moderated a discussion with panelists Anna Fifield, a New Zealand journalist and foreign affairs analyst, former Asia-Pacific editor at the Washington Post, recipient of the 2018 Shorenstein Journalism Award, and a member of the award judging committee, and Oren Samet, an assistant professor of political science at Rice University and a former postdoctoral fellow at Stanford’s Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law.

A Beleaguered Free Press and Untold Stories

Mahtani began her career in 2011 as a Southeast Asia correspondent for the Wall Street Jouranl at a time of optimism about the region and its free press. In Myanmar, amid democratic opening, exiled outlets returned home. In Hong Kong, platforms like Apple Daily and Stand News made it “one of the most fearless press environments anywhere in Asia.”

Today, none of those outlets exist in the same form. “They've either been forced into closure by authoritarian governments, or pushed back into exile after a string of defamation suits,” Mahtani said. The Online Citizen, an independent news platform focused on public interest reporting, has been forced out of Singapore and now operates from Taiwan. Most recently, two Singapore ministers won a defamation case against Bloomberg News, sending a chill across the media industry operating there. 

The Fisher Family Summer Fellows on Democracy and Development Program at Stanford University's Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law is now accepting applications for our summer 2027 program, which will run from Sunday, July 18, to Friday, August 6, 2027. The deadline to apply is 11:59 pm PST on Tuesday, January 12, 2027.

The program brings together an annual cohort of approximately 30 mid-career practitioners from countries in political transition who are working to advance democratic practices and enact economic and legal reform to promote human development. Launched by CDDRL in 2005, the program was previously known as the Draper Hills Summer Fellows Program. The new name reflects an endowment gift from the Fisher family — Sakurako (Sako), ‘82, and William (Bill), MBA ‘84 — that secures the future of this important and impactful program.

From Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, we select our program participants from among hundreds of applicants each year for the significant contributions they have already made to their communities and their potential to make an even greater impact with some help from Stanford. We aim to give them the opportunity to join a global network of over 500 alumni from 96 countries who have all faced similar sets of challenges in bringing change to their countries.

The Fisher Family Summer Fellows Program provides an intensive 3-week on-campus forum for civil society leaders to exchange experiences and receive academic and policy training to enrich their knowledge and advance their work. Delivered by a leading Stanford faculty team composed of Michael McFaul, Kathryn Stoner, Francis Fukuyama, Larry Diamond, Erik Jensen, and more, the program allows emerging and established global leaders to explore new institutional models and frameworks to enhance their ability to promote good governance, accountable politics, and find new ways to achieve economic development in their home countries.

Prospective fellows from Ukraine are also invited to apply for our Strengthening Ukrainian Democracy and Development (SU-DD) Program, which runs concurrently with the Fisher Family Summer Fellows Program. The SU-DD program provides a unique opportunity for mid-career practitioners working on well-defined projects aimed at strengthening Ukrainian democracy, enhancing human development, and promoting good governance. Applicants to the SU-DD program will use the Fisher Family Summer Fellows Program application portal to apply and indicate their interest there. You will then be directed to a series of supplemental questions specific to the SU-DD program, including requiring a detailed description of your proposed project.

This summer, the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law (CDDRL) welcomed 26 democracy leaders from 19 countries across the developing world to its Fisher Family Summer Fellows on Democracy and Development Program for an intensive three-week training focused on democracy, good governance, and rule of law reform. Chosen from a highly competitive applicant pool, the fellows represent a diverse range of professional backgrounds and geographical regions, spanning civil society, public service, social enterprise, media, and technology. Launched in 2005, the program was previously known as the Draper Hills Summer Fellows Program. It was renamed in 2023 in recognition of a gift from the Fisher family — Sakurako (Sako), ‘82, and William (Bill), MBA ‘84 — that endowed the program and secured its future.

Fellows were instructed by a leading Stanford faculty team composed of CDDRL Mosbacher Director and FSI Satre Family Senior Fellow Kathryn Stoner; Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow Francis Fukuyama; Senior Fellow in Global Democracy Larry Diamond; Michael McFaul, FSI Senior Fellow, Ken Olivier and Angela Nomellini Professor of International Studies, and former U.S. Ambassador to Russia; and Erik Jensen, Lecturer in Law at Stanford Law School, on new institutional models and frameworks to enhance their ability to promote good governance, accountable politics, and find new ways to achieve economic development in their home countries.

The program opened with foundational sessions on the dimensions of development, the meaning of democracy, and the role of rule of law, led by faculty including Fukuyama, Diamond, Stoner, and Jensen. Fellows then explored comparative case studies in autocratic governance — from the Middle East to China's global information ecosystem — alongside a fireside discussion on the geopolitics of energy. The second week turned to questions of migration, gender and political development, and the causes of democratization, including a session with the Human Rights Foundation on global patterns of authoritarianism. Additional sessions covered conflict and leadership, transitional justice, and anti-corruption reform, closing with discussions of sharp power, deliberative democracy, and propaganda in autocratic states. In its third and final week, the program addressed some of today's most consequential global issues, including the future of NATO, the geopolitics of artificial intelligence, and democratic backsliding worldwide. The week also covered inequality in Latin America, political corruption, and the challenges facing American democracy ahead of the midterm elections, concluding with sessions on protecting vulnerable populations in conflict and the relationship between land power and democracy.

This year's cohort now joins a global network of more than 500 alumni from over 100 countries, whose professional backgrounds are as diverse as the challenges they confront in their home countries — reflecting a shared dedication to building sound structures of democracy and development.

During the program, the fellows delivered "TED"-style talks in our Fellow Spotlight Series, sharing personal stories about the struggles in their home countries, stories of their fight for justice, equality, and democracy, and stories of optimism and endurance. You can watch their talks in the playlist below: