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Black smoke rises from the area of Gazprom Neft’s Moscow oil refinery on the southeastern outskirts of Moscow on June 18, 2026. (Getty Images)
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(Swell Media/Getty Images)
Is It Time to Rein in Kleptocrats Who Seek to Dominate the World's Information?
It’s an increasingly prevalent phenomenon across the globe: media companies are being taken over by business tycoons and kleptocrats less concerned with honest journalism than with their own political and financial self-interest. Their wealth itself isn’t necessarily a problem. There are genuine philanthropists now sustaining serious news publications and opinion outlets, and serious investors seeking new revenue streams to pay for high-quality news. But the overall trend is disturbing.
What to do? Are there safeguards that governments can put in place? Does that even make sense in a digital age? How might governmental responses be squared with Western faith in free economic competition? Does that still offer a path forward, or is the global erosion of media freedom best described as a market failure?
On Thursday, December 1, Hudson Institute’s Kleptocracy Initiative hosted the first in a series of debates on kleptocracy and democracy. Featuring Hudson Visiting Fellow Martha Bayles of Boston College and Megan McArdle of Bloomberg View, this event was held at the 5th & K Busboys and Poets.
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Responding to Global Threats: A Conversation with Senator Rick Scott
Join Senior Fellow Dr. Rebeccah Heinrichs and Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) for a fireside discussion on how Congress can guide American strategy, the need to modernize the defense industrial base, and the vital role of allies and partners in an unstable international environment.
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Rebeccah L. Heinrichs
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Taiwan’s Ever-Changing Security Environment
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(Photo provided by Michael Sobolik)
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The Chinese flag flies in front of the gate to the Forbidden City on Tiananmen Square on March 4, 2026. (Getty Images)
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Pro-democracy activists line up outside the West Kowloon court as they hold a banner that reads, “Release all political prisoners,” on March 1, 2021, in Hong Kong, China. (Getty Images)
