Since its beginning in 1964, readers have looked to NCR as a credible independent voice in Catholic journalism. NCR is accountable to an accomplished lay board of directors rather than a bishop or head of a religious order. Initially, NCR’s audience was mostly national. NCR has now developed a global online audience, with readers in virtually every country on the planet.
Because of its independent status, NCR goes where other Catholic news sources cannot. In its early days, NCR reported on the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, including the secret findings and the dissenting opinions of Pope John XXIII’s/Pope Paul VI’s commission on birth control. We were the first, and for many years the only, publication to report the clergy sex abuse crisis and episcopal cover-up. We were the first Catholic publication to report extensively on the environment.
Throughout its history, NCR has been a voice for the marginalized, including women, LGBTQ+ communities, refugees, and immigrants.
CURRENT MEDIA PARTNERSHIP FELLOW
Dr. Nicole Symmonds
Mercer University
Dr. Nicole Symmonds is Visiting Assistant Professor of Christian Ethics at the McAfee School of Theology and a Louisville Institute Postdoctoral Fellow. Her research interests include Christian anti-trafficking work, womanist responses to commercial sex work, sexual ethics in popular culture and society, and Christian social ethics and ethnography. Her current research explores the role of Evangelical Christian whiteness in anti-trafficking work performed in urban contexts. She received her Ph.D. from Emory University’s Graduate Division of Religion, an M.Div from the Candler School of Theology, and a B.S. in Journalism from Florida A&M University.
