In this Ready Living Podcast episode, Viktorya Vilk, PEN America’s Director for Digital Safety and Free Expression, describes the authoritarian playbook being deployed to hollow out democratic institutions.
She reveals how attacks on the media and journalism are intertwined with assaults on higher education, cultural institutions, libraries, and other entities using tactics designed to silence others, erode trust in truth, and pressure them to obey in advance.
She makes a resounding case for why press freedom matters. Independent journalism, especially local reporting, is essential for keeping government and corporations accountable. Defending journalism is a concrete necessity for informed, resilient communities.
She also delves into one of the most pervasive threats facing writers, journalists, scholars, and activists today: online abuse. She breaks down what digital intimidation, coordinated harassment, doxing, and swatting look like, explaining that online attacks are often fueled by organized networks, bots, and even foreign actors, with platforms’ policy rollbacks making these dangers worse. However, she also offers practical guidance on what individuals can do to protect themselves and how to survive an online attack, including doxxing.
Viktorya’s commitment to this work is deeply personal. Her family fled the Soviet Union when Ukraine was still under its control, escaping an authoritarian regime that brutally suppressed free expression. She witnessed how writers and artists risked their lives to tell the truth. That history informs her work at PEN America. This episode reminds listeners that press freedom is a shared responsibility, and that the right to speak and express oneself freely are inseparable from protecting democracy itself.
The interview is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube.
Information and digital literacy are essential human rights crucial for building resilient societies, says internationally recognized digital transformation expert Dr. Danica Radovanović, author and editor of the book “Digital Literacy and Inclusion: Stories, Platforms, Communities” in this recent Ready Living Podcast episode.
While nearly a third of the world still lives without internet connectivity and far more remain digitally excluded due to a lack of skills, resources, or support, she dismantles the myth that internet access alone equals inclusion.
She argues that critical thinking, privacy awareness, and ethical participation are needed to effectively navigate a world increasingly shaped by misinformation and disinformation, AI-generated falsehoods, and algorithmic manipulation.
She offers grounded, practical strategies for positive action, sharing how each of us can help build a more inclusive and safer internet. Whether through community-led workshops, media literacy programs for youth, equitable tech policies, or simply practicing kindness and accountability online, she says that the online realm is impacted by the daily actions and choices we all make.
She speaks to the growing human need for real connection and reflects on a growing hunger for authentic, in-person experiences, especially in a post-pandemic world marked by digital fatigue. She argues that authentic human creations, versus artificial AI ones, may soon become sought-after luxuries.
She encourages people to embrace lifelong learning, practice self-knowledge, and recognize that every online action is a chance to shape a digital world worth living in.
One of the most powerful moments in the episode is when she shares how she recently learned about her grandfather’s imprisonment in a Nazi camp during World War II. For Danica, the act of writing about her family’s history is a way of transforming trauma and reclaiming the narrative, and underscores her deep commitment to human dignity and inclusivity.
The interview is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube.
