Published work
Published reports and news articles authored by Luba Kassova
A story about fear and how to find our voice when we are being silenced
This is a Bulgarian translation of the earlier essay which Luba wrote for Coda Story titled: How to find your voice when you are being silenced. It has been republished by offnews.bg which is a leading online news provider in Bulgaria. The essay explores the anatomy of fear which is at the heart of all authoritarian regimes, old and new. It is also a manual for circumventing disempowering fear in favour of quiet defiance and human interconnectedness.
How to find your voice when you are being silenced
In this guest essay Luba makes a powerful juxtaposition between her teenage memories of living in an authoritarian state and the developments in the United States since Donald Trump came back in power in January 2025. This is a human story, a cautionary tale about the consequences of allowing fear to prematurely drain our power away from us. The piece offers multiple ideas on how to resist autocratic leaders and regimes - overtly or covertly - not many of which have much to do with being politically active yet all have everything to do with being connected with our humanity and communities.
News Coverage of Women: America is Failing, the world is Stalling
Women’s rights have been under siege in recent years so in this analysis Luba explores whether global news coverage has grown in line with the increase in challenges that women face. And the short answer is: “it hasn’t”. Once again, news is nothing more than a mirror reflecting the prevalent social norms. Apart from offering a window into the reasons behind the coverage collapse, decline or stagnation in different parts of the world, Luba also offers suggestions for how newsrooms can increase their coverage of women’s growing predicaments.
I Thought My Year of Yes Would Lead to More Paid Work. How Wrong I Was.
In this guest essay for The Persistent Luba zones in on her test-crash-and-learn 2024 which was the year she decided to say ‘yes’ to every engagement she was approached about, worked a lot but didn’t get paid enough. How did an equality expert allow this to happen, you may legitimately ask. This essay tackles precisely this question. It also explores the lessons for the future that Luba learned on her journey to push back against the wide-spread expertise grab.
The Missing Voices of Women in Music and Music News
This is the fourth report in the multi-award-winning Missing Perspectives series. An eye-popping analysis based on AKAS’ nine-months-long groundbreaking investigative work, it exposes the chasm between the overly-positive narrative about women's presence in the Grammys pushed by the Recording Academy in the news media vs. the reality of women’s marginalisation in the Grammys. The report was covered/referenced in 5 of the 10 most read English language news media in the world on both sides of the political divide. Nearly 200 outlets covered it.
9 tips for cultivating balance ahead of a year of relentless reporting and fact-checking
In this essay Luba shares nine suggestions for how to maintain or restore balance in a profoundly uncertain and pressurised world that leaves many feeling like they are aboard a plane hit by violent turbulence. To find out some answers, Luba turned for advice to four psychology, yoga, mindfulness and spiritual experts. They have a combined 75-plus years of experience helping people be more resilient and thrive.
Tackling violence against women starts with social norms change in society Dir.bg
In this op-ed for dir.bg (a leading Bulgarian news outlet) Luba Kassova shares her reflections from a conference organised by The Institute for the Study of Democracy dedicated to tackling disinformation, corruption and gender-based violence in Bulgaria. She shares insights from the groundbreaking research conducted by Peter Todorov from AKAS and herself about Bulgarian media's sensationalist coverage of violence against women, what needs to change and the importance of focusing on shifting social norms for arresting violence against women globally and in Bulgaria.
How the Democrat-leaning news media is unwittingly aiding Trump
In this op-ed for Fortune, Luba Kassova and Richard Addy examine the under-analysed phenomenon of Trump’s dominance on US TV News, particularly on left-leaning 24/7 news channels during the last three election campaigns and how it inadvertently is executing Trump's communication strategy summed up in his infamous statement: "There is no bad press unless you are a paed*phile".
No, young Black men aren’t to blame if Trump wins the election
In this article for the Independent Richard Addy and Luba Kassova challenge the unfair news media attention on young black men ahead of the US elections. It also exposes the inaccurate claims that media makes in relation to young black men’s voting intentions which creates a false social validation to vote in a particular way, which may be swaying the voter behaviour.
The Lethal Price of Misogyny in Security and Defense
In this essay Luba dives into the substantive barriers that women in intelligence and defence sectors globally are forced to navigate which men do not. She interviews experts from the US, Israel and elsewhere and draws attention to two calamitous events - the 9/11 terrorist attack on the Twin Towers in New York and the 7/10 Hamas attack in Israel - that could have been prevented if only the multiple warnings of women intelligence officers and soldiers had been listened to and acted upon.
