Published work
Published reports and news articles authored by Luba Kassova
21st Century Journalism Needs Emotions to Survive
In this essay Luba makes the case that journalism is bleeding readers because it ignores the emotional disengagement of its audience. Neuroscience tells us emotions shape how we value facts — yet newsrooms still sideline them. To survive, journalism must embrace emotional arcs, validate lived anxieties, and guide people toward hope and empowerment.
The Unseen Truth about Global Trust in News
In this article Luba Kassova and Richard Addy argue that the common claim of a global collapse in news-trust is overwhelmingly US-centric and misleading. By analysing over 500,000 news stories and seven major surveys, the authors show global trust has largely held steady — or even increased — especially outside the U.S., undermining the doom-laden narrative.
Case Study: Learning to Pitch Gender Sensitive Stories
Luba wrote a chapter in The Feminist Investigative Journalism Handbook, launched in October 2025, dedicated to helping journalists pitch stories that focus on the underrepresented. In it she argues that the dominant “MOWER” worldview (men, older, white, educated, richer) skews which stories are seen as newsworthy and shows how to make a strong, evidence-based case for inclusive journalism — highlighting gender gaps, under-covered power dynamics, and the value of reaching broader audiences. True to her style she shares personal practical tips for surviving burnout and sustaining hope.
Few Things Test Friendships Like Success
The Persistent republished a shorter version of Luba's longer Lubascope Substack essay where she reflects on how success — not just hardship — reveals the true nature of friendships. She opens up about having felt hurt by muted reactions from friends to her writing achievements and explores the causes sitting behind them. She admits to lowering her expectations over time, learning to seek self-validation and to cherish genuinely supportive friends more than ever before.
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.
