OLD Media Moves

When a WSJ reporter received death threats for her coverage

July 23, 2020

Posted by Chris Roush

Preetika Rana

Wall Street Journal deputy business editor Nikki Waller spoke with reporter Preetika Rana about her job for the newspaper’s women’s newsletter.

Here’s an excerpt:

WSJ: What is the most challenging story you’ve worked on?

PR: I’ve been extremely fortunate to work for the Journal in India, Hong Kong and the U.S.

Last year, I was sent to cover the unprecedented military clampdown in India, where I began my career at the WSJ nearly a decade ago. My coverage outlined how people in Kashmir — cut off from landlines, cellphones and the internet at the time — were struggling to access lifesaving drugs and critical care.

News out of Kashmir, India’s only Muslim-majority state, stokes emotions in a largely Hindu country. India and Pakistan have fought three wars over it; both countries claim the region in its entirety.

India’s foreign ministry denounced my coverage as fake news. Death threats flooded my inbox. My photos circulated on Twitter. The Journal’s global security team eventually suspended my social-media accounts.

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