Barbara Crossette

PassBlue; The Nation; Former Carnegie Council Trustee

Barbara Crossette is contributing editor and writer for PassBlue, a fellow of the Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies at The Graduate Center, CUNY, and the United Nations correspondent for The Nation. She is also a Carnegie Council board member and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Previously, Crossette was the UN bureau chief for The New York Times from 1994 to 2001 and before that its chief correspondent in Southeast Asia and South Asia.

In 1991, Crossette won the George Polk Award for foreign reporting for her coverage of the assassination of the former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. In 2008 she received a Fulbright Award for contributions to international understanding and in 2010, the Shorenstein Prize, awarded by media centers at Harvard and Stanford, for writings on Asia that enhanced understanding of the region in the West. She is the author of India Facing the 21st Century (1993); So Close to Heaven: The Vanishing Buddhist Kingdoms of the Himalayas (1995); and The Great Hill Stations of Asia (1998). She has been a member of the adjunct faculty of Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism, was a Fulbright teaching fellow at Punjab University in Chandigarh, India; the 1994 Ferris visiting professor on politics and the press at Princeton University, and a Knight International press fellow in Brazil 2004–2005.

Featured Work

UN General Assembly, New York City. CREDIT: <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:UN_General_Assembly_bldg_flags.JPG">Yerpo</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en">(CC)</a>

DEC 7, 2016 Article

The Question Is: Can the UN Survive the Trump Era?

The United Nations will swear in António Guterres as its ninth secretary-general on December 12, when the organization will be only weeks away from the ...

Enisa, a multiple-rape survivor from the Bosnian war, left, with Majda Prljaca, communications officer for the UN Population Fund in Sarajevo.  © Armin Smailović

AUG 7, 2014 Article

Helpless Bosnia and Its Women, 20 Years After Ethnic War

Carnegie Council Trustee Barbara Crossette looks at courageous women who have gone from victims of the Bosnian War (1992-1995) to heroines. Yet many foresee a ...

The UN building, New York. CREDIT: <a href="http://tinyurl.com/omu7ser">Ashitaka San, (<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/deed.en">CC</a>)

SEP 30, 2013 Podcast

The Failure of the Mainstream Media to Cover the UN: Who's to Blame?

Former "New York Times" UN bureau chief Barbara Crossette explains why the U.S. media has lost interest in the UN, and how the UN ...

The UN building, New York. CREDIT: <a href="http://tinyurl.com/omu7ser">Ashitaka San, (<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/deed.en">CC</a>)

SEP 30, 2013 Transcript

The Failure of the Mainstream Media to Cover the UN: Who's to Blame?

Former "New York Times" UN bureau chief Barbara Crossette explains why the U.S. media has lost interest in the UN, and how the UN ...

Aung San Suu Kyi, state counsellor of Myanmar. CREDIT: <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Remise_du_Prix_Sakharov_%C3%A0_Aung_San_Suu_Kyi_Strasbourg_22_octobre_2013-08.jpg">Claude TRUONG-NGOC (CC)</a>

JAN 17, 2013 Podcast

A Fragile New Burma

Back from a recent fact-finding trip to Burma, veteran Asia correspondent Barbara Crossette reports on the complex situation there. People have high hopes for more ...

NOV 18, 2011 Podcast

International Reporting and the Brave New World of New Journalism

Veteran journalist Barbara Crossette discusses how international reporting has changed dramatically over the last few decades: new dangers, new competitors, and new ethical and professional ...

NOV 16, 2011 Podcast

UN Population Fund Report

Now that the population has reached seven billion, most of the focus is on the numbers. In this report, however, Crossette explores individual stories around ...

CREDIT: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/globalcitizen01/5908582098/" target=_blank>GlobalCitizen01</a>

SEP 15, 2011 Article

SUSTAINABILITY FORUM: The Population and Sustainability Debate

According to UN projections, our world will be home to more than 9 billion people by 2050, increasing competition for livable space and critical resources such as ...

APR 7, 2009 Podcast

Barbara Crossette Interviews Nandan Nilekani

Journalist Barbara Crossette talks to Indian software entrepreneur Nandan Nilekani about his book, "Imagining India: The Idea of a Renewed Nation." Their topics include politics, ...

MAR 30, 2009 Podcast

Imagining India: The Idea of a Renewed Nation

Nandan Nilekani argues that India's recent economic boom has triggered tremendous social, political, and cultural change. He discusses India's challenges and advantages, such as its ...