Visual journalism, in its many forms, is a vital part of news: It can provide evidence that allows us to hold people and institutions accountable, and it can help us build empathy for the plight of others. This year, The Intercept sent photographers and video journalists into the field to bring viewers to places they might not otherwise see, and to move them with human stories — from the release of Palestinian activist Ahed Tamimi to the reunification of families separated at the U.S.-Mexico border. Our illustrations and data visualizations helped elucidate complex issues, from the scope of sexual abuse in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention to the National Security Agency’s hidden network of spy hubs around the country.
Murderville, Georgia
By Liliana Segura, Jordan Smith
Inside a Sleazy FBI Sting Involving Diet Clinics, Fitness Models, Money Laundering, and a Supposed Plot to Hire a Hitman
By Trevor Aaronson
Farmers at Gaza’s Edge Try to Make Ends Meet Between Economic Squeeze and Israeli Sniper Fire
By Matthew Cassel
In Uganda, Groups Offering Contraception and Family Planning Have Lost Millions in U.S. Aid Thanks to Trump’s Global Gag Rule
By Laura Kasinof
1,224 Complaints Reveal a Staggering Pattern of Sexual Abuse in Immigration Detention. Half of Those Accused Worked for ICE.
By Alice Speri
How Nicaragua Uses Anti-Terror Laws Against Protesters to Suppress Dissent
By Sarah Kinosian, Carlos Pérez Osorio
In South Texas, Border Residents Struggle to Cope With the Latest Military Surge
By Melissa del Bosque
Iraq’s Courts Have Rushed to Convict Thousands of ISIS Fighters. This Is One Family’s Struggle for Fairness, Truth, and Reconciliation.
By Simona Foltyn
Lacking Birth Control Options, Desperate Venezuelan Women Turn to Sterilization and Illegal Abortion
By Lou Marillier and Daisy Squires
How Ahed Tamimi Became the Symbol of Palestinian Resistance to Israeli Oppression
By Alice Speri
Undocumented Immigrant Faces a Choice: Become an Informant for ICE or Be Deported
By Ryan Katz
My Life as a New York Times Reporter in the Shadow of the War on Terror
By Jim Risen
Puerto Ricans and Ultrarich “Puertopians” Are Locked in a Pitched Struggle Over How to Remake the Island
By Naomi Klein
A Father Took His 10-Year-Old Fishing. She Fell in the Water and Drowned. It Was a Tragic Accident — Then He Was Charged With Murder.
By Jordan Smith
What Happens When a Barrio 18 Soldier Tries to Leave the Gang
By Danielle Mackey
The NSA’s Hidden Spy Hubs in Eight U.S. Cities
By Ryan Gallagher, Henrik Moltke
ICE Defied a Court Order in Vendetta Against Deportee
By Alice Speri
Secretly Taped Audio Reveals Democratic Leadership Pressuring Progressive to Leave Race
By Lee Fang
A Rare Look at Yemen’s War, Where Children Starve and Hospitals Are on Life-Support
By Alex Potter
Camp America Comes Home: Debi Cornwall’s Photos Capture the Eerie Aftermath of Guantánamo.
By Siddhartha Mitter
IT’S EVEN WORSE THAN WE THOUGHT.
What we’re seeing right now from Donald Trump is a full-on authoritarian takeover of the U.S. government.
This is not hyperbole.
Court orders are being ignored. MAGA loyalists have been put in charge of the military and federal law enforcement agencies. The Department of Government Efficiency has stripped Congress of its power of the purse. News outlets that challenge Trump have been banished or put under investigation.
Yet far too many are still covering Trump’s assault on democracy like politics as usual, with flattering headlines describing Trump as “unconventional,” “testing the boundaries,” and “aggressively flexing power.”
The Intercept has long covered authoritarian governments, billionaire oligarchs, and backsliding democracies around the world. We understand the challenge we face in Trump and the vital importance of press freedom in defending democracy.
We’re independent of corporate interests. Will you help us?
IT’S BEEN A DEVASTATING year for journalism — the worst in modern U.S. history.
We have a president with utter contempt for truth aggressively using the government’s full powers to dismantle the free press. Corporate news outlets have cowered, becoming accessories in Trump’s project to create a post-truth America. Right-wing billionaires have pounced, buying up media organizations and rebuilding the information environment to their liking.
In this most perilous moment for democracy, The Intercept is fighting back. But to do so effectively, we need to grow.
That’s where you come in. Will you help us expand our reporting capacity in time to hit the ground running in 2026?
We’re independent of corporate interests. Will you help us?
I’M BEN MUESSIG, The Intercept’s editor-in-chief. It’s been a devastating year for journalism — the worst in modern U.S. history.
We have a president with utter contempt for truth aggressively using the government’s full powers to dismantle the free press. Corporate news outlets have cowered, becoming accessories in Trump’s project to create a post-truth America. Right-wing billionaires have pounced, buying up media organizations and rebuilding the information environment to their liking.
In this most perilous moment for democracy, The Intercept is fighting back. But to do so effectively, we need to grow.
That’s where you come in. Will you help us expand our reporting capacity in time to hit the ground running in 2026?
We’re independent of corporate interests. Will you help us?
Contact the author:
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The only extremism would-be assassins like suspect Cole Tomas Allen share is an extreme response to Trump’s deranging politics.