Liam Scott


Select Writing

Columbia Journalism Review •

The Last Days at Voice of America

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On Saturday, about thirteen hundred Voice of America staffers, myself included, were placed on administrative leave. VOA’s final broadcast went out; its website was updated one last time. For the first time since its creation, in 1942, to combat Nazi propaganda, VOA went silent.


As a press freedom reporter, I’ve spent the past few years constantly interacting with groups like the Committee to Protect Journa...
Voice of America •

'Undue Burden': One family's fight for American journalist's freedom

Prague/Washington — 
Portraits of Alsu Kurmasheva are scattered throughout the Prague apartment she shares with her husband and two daughters. But the journalist has not set foot here in more than a year.
Perhaps the most striking of the paintings, all of which were done by her husband, Pavel Butorin, is the one that remains unfinished, perched on an easel in the living room. Butorin started it after Kurmasheva, 47, was jailed in Russia in October 2023 on charges that are widely viewed as basele...
Voice of America •

Historic prisoner swap sees American journalists, ex-Marine freed from Russia

The U.S. on Thursday confirmed a historic prisoner swap with Russia that included the release of American journalists Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva, former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, and permanent resident Vladimir Kara-Murza.
In total, the U.S. secured the release of 16 individuals, including five wrongfully detained Germans and seven Russian citizens, in return for eight Russians held in the U.S., Germany, Poland, Norway and Slovenia.
It marked the largest prisoner swap between the United...
Voice of America •

Distance No Guarantee of Safety for Russia’s Exiled Journalists

Berlin — 
It was supposed to be a relaxing dinner with friends in Tbilisi, Georgia, before a move to Berlin. But things didn’t turn out as planned for Irina Babloyan.
That evening, the Russian journalist suddenly fell ill. By morning, her head hurt, her hands and feet were red and burning, and her mouth tasted like metal.
Doctors later determined poisoning was the most likely cause for the symptoms. The top suspect: Moscow.
The incident occurred in October 2022. When Babloyan spoke with VOA this...
Voice of America •

Stepping out of Beijing’s shadow

Berlin — 
It's a cold, overcast afternoon, but Su Yutong is in a cheerful mood as she walks in a Berlin park.
Her hat askew and hair in pigtails, the 47-year-old proves popular among the animals. A French bulldog runs over to greet her. Swans and ducks paddle close.
Swinging her sequined purse as she walks, Su brags to me about how well she plays ping pong. Her manner is a contrast to the Berliners hurrying by on this windy day.

But the journalist's seemingly carefree attitude belies something...
Voice of America •

Stepping out of the shadows

When Chinese journalist Su Yutong fled her home country in 2010, she thought she would find safety. But even in exile in Germany, the reporter is targeted by China. From Berlin, Liam Scott has the story. Videographer: Jonathan Spier

When Chinese journalist Su Yutong fled her home country in 2010, she thought she would find safety. But even in exile in Germany, the reporter is targeted by China. From Berlin, Liam Scott has the story. Videographer: Jonathan Spier
Voice of America •

Far From Xinjiang, Uyghurs Keep Their Culture Alive

Munich — 
In a nondescript building in southwestern Munich, Uyghur children gather every Saturday to do something that is banned in China: learn their native language.
On a recent morning, the children in the youngest course giggled as their instructor made animal noises to teach them the words for cat and goat. In more advanced classes, Uyghur literature is introduced. Many of the children have never visited their homeland of Xinjiang.
In preserving the language and culture of a group that has...
Voice of America •

Last of the Watchdogs

MARION, KANSAS — It was late at night in the Marion County Record newsroom, but reporter and self-described insomniac Deb Gruver was still at work.
Her colleagues long gone, Gruver’s only company was the glow of her computer screen, a clock ticking softly on the wood-paneled wall, and the silence that seems to envelop small towns at night.
At around three in the morning, a motion detector went off, indicating movement in a back room.

Panicked, the 56-year-old called the weekly paper’s publishe...
Voice of America •

Dearth of DC-based reporters spells end of an era

Jonathan Salant likes to collect things: bobbleheads of presidents and celebrities, campaign buttons, nearly 40 years of press passes.
But most of all, he likes to collect stories.

One of his favorites is from 2023, when several members of the New Jersey congressional delegation advocated for him to keep his job after the Star-Ledger, a Newark-based paper, had laid him off, leaving the Garden State without a reporter in Washington assigned to the Capitol beat.
The story of local news layoffs h...
Foreign Policy •

UNESCO Made Ukraine a Priority, but Xinjiang Fell by the Wayside

Cultural destruction is playing a central role in China’s onslaught against Uyghurs in Xinjiang. Since 2017, Chinese authorities have destroyed or damaged approximately 16,000 mosques—about 65 percent of the total—in Xinjiang, according to a 2020 report from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI). Cultural destruction is playing a central role in China’s onslaught against Uyghurs in Xinjiang. Since 2017, Chinese authorities have destroyed or damaged approximately 16,000 mosques—about 6...
Foreign Policy •

Western Academics Are Fighting for Disappeared Friends in Xinjiang

Joanne Smith Finley, a British expert in Uyghur studies, will never forget when she learned that her dear friend Abdurehim Heyit was detained in 2017.Joanne Smith Finley, a British expert in Uyghur studies, will never forget when she learned that her dear friend Abdurehim Heyit was detained in 2017.
“When I heard he had been interned, I was absolutely distraught. I just collapsed into tears,” she said. “I was imagining awful things. I was imagining that they would break his hands. I was thinking...
New Lines Magazine •

Hard News: The Struggle to Report on Myanmar and Belarus From Exile

Before the February 2021 coup in Myanmar, Nu Nu Lusan had never worked as a journalist. But when Myanmar’s military, the Tatmadaw, overthrew the fledgling civilian-led government, thrusting her home country into yet another violent period of military rule, she found that reporting on the crisis was how she could contribute to the resistance effort.“I feel like I’m doing something for my country,” she told New Lines from Malaysia, where she has lived for about 10 years. “My motivation is the peop...
Coda Story •

Is Indonesia criminalizing journalism?

New regulations and revisions introduced in Indonesia this summer will likely have a devastating impact on freedom of expression for all Indonesians, experts say, with the country’s journalists facing distinct risks as a result.
In July, technology companies were required by the government to comply with new, strict licensing rules for technology platforms. These rules — called Ministerial Regulation 5, or MR5 — require tech companies to take down content deemed unlawful or that “disturbs public...