Email: patrick@gazzetta.xyz
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Short bio

I am the founder of Gazzetta, a Tallinn and New York-based firm supporting media and technology companies in advancing global internet freedom.

While our projects are diverse, they share these core themes:

  • Audience research
  • News product development
  • Newsroom transformation and restructuring
  • Building anti-autocratic resilience

I previously led Radio Free Europe's digital transformation, establishing its audience research, marketing, and product departments, along with its journalism Academy and Innovation Lab. My experience spans executive newsroom roles, award-winning reporting for The New York Times and other publications in Asia and Europe, co-founding the Environmental Reporting Collective, and teaching at the University of Hong Kong. I hold a doctorate in political science and was a 2023 Sulzberger Fellow at Columbia University.


Recent CoverageHow Western News Is Getting Around Putin’s Digital Iron Curtain, The Atlantic | A New Iron Curtain Is Descending on Russia’s Internet, The Washington Post | U.S. and Ukrainian Groups Pierce Putin’s Propaganda Bubble, The New York Times How can Russians access uncensored news? The Times of London | News media uses digital back doors to reach Russians, Axios | Researchers find Israeli-made spyware deployed across Armenia, Reuters

Projects Reports: Ten lessons in media innovation, The Fix | The Illusion of Openness, Advocacy Assembly course on mitigating internet censorship, How a narrative podcast from Radio Svaboda helped counter news fatigue in Belarus, The Fix | How a large global newsroom is building trust using video, surveys, Facebook and more Trusting News | Global Investigative Journalism Network 10 Lessons from Our Global Collaboration on Pangolin Trafficking Multilingual Journalism Could Make a Comeback. Here Are Some Tools That Might Help | IJNet Journalists in Africa and Asia collaborate to shed light on illicit wildlife trade Collaborative journalism predictions for 2020 | SWI swissinfo.ch We want to hear about your expertise and experiences

Selected Reporting: The New York Times After Edward Snowden Fled U.S., Asylum Seekers in Hong Kong Took Him In | A Greyhound Racetrack Meets Its Demise | Jim Rogers, Intrepid Investor, Finds Bumpy Road to North Korea | Tianjin Blasts Expose the Dangerous Proximity of Toxic Chemicals in China | The South China Morning Post The forgotten Chinese army of the first world war | Voices from Tiananmen | Dragon at the doorstep: Myanmar’s changing ties with China | Post Magazine The first overseas branch of a Chinese university opens in Laos. The Caravan Maldives – Whatever the Distance The Irrawaddy Training the next generation of Kachin rebels | Burmese refugees face tough times in Japan | Displaced and Distressed | Did a Golden Triangle Leader Fall for a UN Peace Prize Hoax? | TIME Vietnam’s Blogosphere: The battleground for rival factions of the ruling Communists | Foreign Policy Burma’s web-savvy rebels | WSJ China Venture Investing, Driven by Mobile, Soars | NZZ Ein chinesischer Banker auf Mission in Zürich | Le Monde Diplomatique Fils de princes, affaires et corruption | Malaysiakini The media in a post-BN Malaysia | 时代周报 3-part series on a Chinese official’s family fortune | 金三角往事:那些大毒枭们 (the Chinese-Burmese guerrilla leader Lei Yutian’s last interview) | SWI How Switzerland reacted to Tiananmen Square | Environmental Reporting Collective The Pangolin Reports: Trafficked to Extinction