Jonah Kessel

I am the director of video for New York Times Opinion and deputy director of Opinion shows, overseeing Opinion’s digital video operation, including video guest essays, argued essays, video editorials and series such as The Ezra Klein Show,” “Interesting Times with Ross Douthat,” “The Opinions” and Op-Docs, our award-winning series of short documentaries. My work focuses on convening thoughtful discussion and debate to help audiences better understand the world. I combine original reporting with creative storytelling to produce visually distinctive, intellectually rigorous commentary. I work across documentary film, argued video shorts, video guest essays, interactive video and video podcasts, covering a wide range of the most urgent political, cultural and social questions of the day. My aim is to translate complex ideas into compelling visual experiences that invite curiosity, encourage disagreement without rancor and expand the reach of Times Opinion journalism to new audiences. I come from a background in international reporting, documentary filmmaking and visual journalism. I previously worked in the Times newsroom as director of cinematography and as an international video correspondent, covering Asia from bureaus in Beijing and Hong Kong and reporting on the ground from more than 25 countries. My work has focused on using visual storytelling to make complex or hidden systems visible — including global supply chains and technology platforms, as well as conflict, disinformation and human rights. I work fluently across formats and camera technologies, including mobile and aerial imaging and studio, high-speed and infrared cinematography. In 2013, I was the field video journalist on a team that won the Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting for an examination of Apple’s business practices. In 2020, my work exposing the environmental effects of deregulation was named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service. My reporting has also been recognized with two World Press Photo awards, multiple Pictures of the Year International honors, the Robert F. Kennedy Award for Justice and Human Rights Reporting and the National Press Foundation’s Innovative Storytelling Award. Since 2021, my work with Opinion Video has won eight news and documentary Emmy Awards along with 29 Emmy nominations.