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It brings together innovative design and the best of traditional journalism to deliver stories about events that shape our world. Winner of the 2014 Best Startups for News competition at the Global Editors Network annual summit and the 2018 duPont-Columbia Award. Coda Story is dedicated to encouraging dialogue. If your comments are aggressive or offensive, they may be deleted and you risk being banned.

27/07/2026

“On Monday, Indian parliamentarians began the Monsoon session in the capital Delhi. There was “no need for a storm,” said prime minister Narendra Modi — even as tens of thousands of protesters attempted to march from central Delhi to the parliament. The march was broken up by police using lathis — long sticks of bamboo, sometimes tipped with iron — and tear gas.” Ishan Tankha reports for Coda from Delhi.

The protest is organized by the the Cockroach Janta Party — not an official political party, but rather a spontaneous protest movement sparked by a meme.It embraced the Chief Justice of India’s comparison of local youth to parasites and turned, according to the movement’s website, into a “voice of the lazy & unemployed."

Indian unemployment for young people between 15 and 29 hovers around 15%. For those with degrees, the figure is closer to 40%. India has long believed its demographic dividend — a greater number of working-age people than dependents — would lead to skyrocketing development. But as “cockroaches” take on the city with waves of protest, Modi’s government chooses to remain oblivious, exposing cracks in the prime minister’s carefully curated image.

Read the full story by Ishan Tankha in this week’s Coda Currents newsletter.

17/07/2026

Tens of thousands of people are desperately trying to flee South Africa, fearing for their lives. At least 54,000 already have, most carrying just the clothes on their backs or whatever possessions they could hurriedly stuff into a bag. They stand accused, by both leading politicians and vigilante groups, of being “illegal immigrants,” and are being chased out of the country in a well-organized campaign of violence and intimidation. The South African government is calling it “migration management.” The word “pogrom” may be more accurate, say civil society sources.

Anti-immigration sentiments are not new in South Africa, which in the past two decades has witnessed periodic outbursts of deadly violence against people perceived to be foreigners. This time is different. March and March, which bills itself as “a citizen-led movement advocating for stronger immigration enforcement,” gave “illegal immigrants” a deadline of June 30 to leave the country.

March and March reportedly has close links with the opposition MK Party, led by former president Jacob Zuma.

Read the full story, reported by Coda Story’s Simon Allison from Johannesburg in this week’s Coda Currents newsletter.

A lot is written about corruption, but fundamentally it’s about trust and how healthy societies can’t exist without it; ...
15/07/2026

A lot is written about corruption, but fundamentally it’s about trust and how healthy societies can’t exist without it; and the World Cup has shown what happens when trust breaks down. The decision to allow U.S. striker Folarin Balogun to play in the World Cup match against Belgium was, according to FIFA, made by the relevant disciplinary committee in a routine manner. However, following the similarly generous treatment accorded to Portuguese megastar Cristiano Ronaldo before the tournament began, a lot of people not unreasonably questioned whether the rules were being set aside for commercial reasons.

It’s only football, so does this matter? In some ways, of course not. But I think the episode is instructive of how quickly trust can disappear.

Read Oliver’s full analysis at the link in bio

13/07/2026

Hamas announced that the group will relinquish political control of Gaza in favor of a new technocratic government. But the move, researcher Said Abu Rahma tells Egab, “carries more political weight than administrative substance.” It “does not necessarily mean Hamas is relinquishing its role or influence in the Gaza Strip,” he says. Instead, it signals to the United States that the only obstacle to moving Donald Trump’s peace plan forward is Israel.

Meanwhile, not much changes on the ground in Gaza. 50-year-old Aziz Aslim’s makeshift current home is a ragged tent near a pool of sewage. His house was destroyed during the war and two of his daughters were widowed. He is listening to the radio, to news about the end of the Hamas government, when his youngest daughter, Hayat, 15, comes back from a food distribution point with a small container of cooked rice and a loaf of bread. Aslim slaps his palms together in frustration. It is nowhere near enough to feed everyone.

“What matters most to the people of Gaza,” he says, “tormented by hardship, by genocide, destruction and displacement isn’t who governs. What matters is if they can save us before it’s too late.”

Read the full story, reported in partnership with Egab, in last week’s Coda Currents newsletter.

The United Kingdom has taken over the presidency of the Financial Action Task Force, the global standard-setter on tackl...
08/07/2026

The United Kingdom has taken over the presidency of the Financial Action Task Force, the global standard-setter on tackling money laundering, and seems determined to keep calm and carry on despite the gigantic Donald Trump-sized hole being blasted in everything it’s trying to do.

The U.S. was last evaluated in 2016, and the FATF made various recommendations, which Washington was supposed to have implemented. But since Donald Trump returned to the White House that has gone into screeching reverse.

Read Oliver’s full analysis on codastory.com

Day two of ZEG 2026 focused less on who tells stories than on which ones we choose to believe. Across conversations on f...
20/06/2026

Day two of ZEG 2026 focused less on who tells stories than on which ones we choose to believe. Across conversations on football, climate, exile, journalism, music and technology, speakers returned to one question: how do inherited narratives shape our understanding of ourselves, our countries and our future?

The day opened with journalist Mora y Araujo and Joe Sabia reflecting on Diego Maradona—footballer, political symbol, and repository for Argentina’s hopes and contradictions. « We romanticize Maradona a lot more nowadays, » Mora y Araujo said. « We overattribute his capacity to be a justice fighter. »

Activist Kumi Naidoo, speaking with Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, reflected on decades spent warning of a climate future that has now arrived. The movement was right about the facts, he argued, but underestimated political inertia. Still, his message was one of persistence: « Pessimism is a luxury we simply cannot afford. »

Pulitzer-winning novelist Viet Thanh Nguyen joined Razia Iqbal to discuss exile and belonging, reflecting on life between identities—refugee and citizen, witness and participant.

In one of the day’s most urgent sessions, Arwa Damon and Rachel Shabi, moderated by Lindsey Hilsum, examined journalism’s role in Gaza in The Witness Trap. « We need to change who we think the witnesses are, » Damon said. « Not just journalists, but humanitarians who are also there. »

Not every conversation looked backward. Producers Adam Faze and Jake Friedman reflected on iShowSpeed’s 48-hour New York livestream and how such moments are reshaping entertainment for a generation raised online. « Everything we knew about storytelling changed, » said Faze.

As evening fell, focus shifted to listening. In The Political Ear, Michael Barenboim and Aïda Delpuech, moderated by Nadia Beard, explored what music teaches about coexistence and political imagination. Barenboim proposed a new framework: « We should now look at the idea of co-resistance—resisting fascism and apartheid together. »

The day closed with the premiere of Find Me, a collaborative album where pianist Tamriko Kordzaia and her son, composer Kordz, explore memory, distance and return.

Day one of ZEG Storytelling Festival 2026 asked a deceptively simple question: who gets to tell the story?From a contest...
19/06/2026

Day one of ZEG Storytelling Festival 2026 asked a deceptively simple question: who gets to tell the story?

From a contested photograph that shaped the world’s understanding of the Vietnam War to conversations about democratic collapse and political imprisonment, speakers returned to the gap between official narratives and lived experience.

The day opened with filmmaker Bao Nguyen and photographer Rena Effendi discussing The Stringer, Nguyen’s investigation into the authorship of Na**lm Girl, one of the century’s most famous photographs, and what happens when an image becomes so iconic it obscures the people behind it.

For Nguyen, the story carries personal resonance: « Knowing that there was a possibility of another Vietnamese photographer who didn’t have his opportunity to speak his truth, it reminded me a lot of my parents’ own journey as refugees. »

Mohamedou Ould Slahi, imprisoned 14 years without charge at Guantánamo Bay, warned against treating democracy as a destination rather than an ongoing responsibility: « Democracy is not an event. It’s a process. We have to stay aware. We have to keep holding the government accountable. »

Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo López described Venezuela’s democratic decline as gradual until it wasn’t: « Think of Venezuela as the story of killing democracy from within. The civic space closed. The media closed. The judiciary became politicized. It happened gradually, and in the end, it collapsed. »

Zelda Perkins examined what happens when systems protect those in power, reflecting on breaking the NDA she signed as Harvey Weinstein’s assistant: « Putting Harvey in jail was important. But it wasn’t going to solve the problem. If you can’t change human nature, you can change the law. »

As evening fell, Coda Live took the main stage with « What’s the Story? » Six narratives brought audiences a long-lost family reunited, opera across a divided city, desire discovered later in life, corruption exposed from within, survival after solitary confinement, and the search for light as darkness closes in — performed by Leopoldo López, Aïda Delpuech, Irma Dimitradze, Martin G. Reynolds, Rosmery De la Cruz Suazo, and Shahmir Sanni.

15/06/2026

Coda’s Olatunji Olaigbe unpacks last week’s Coda Currents newsletter. Want reporting like this delivered to your inbox every week? Subscribe to our free Coda Currents newsletter. Link in bio.

05/06/2026

A society dependent on AI is not enough. We explore why in this week’s Coda Currents newsletter.

Sign-up at the link in bio.

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