Two hundred years after Elijah Parish Lovejoy graduated from what was then Waterville College, three journalists gathered at the College to accept an award bearing his name and to describe the growing challenges of reporting on national security.
The 2026 Lovejoy Award for Courage in Journalism honored Helene Cooper of The New York Times, Tara Copp of The Washington Post, and Phil Stewart of Reuters for their work covering the Pentagon and U.S. national security operations.
For the journalists, courage in journalism has increasingly meant finding ways to report when traditional access is no longer available.
“We were all forced with a final choice,” Stewart said, describing the Pentagon press corps’ decision to refuse a policy governing their access and reporting. “Either sign this agreement or surrender your valid badges.” The journalists ultimately surrendered their badges and left the Pentagon.
Copp described what the loss of access has meant for the press corps and the public. Before journalists were removed from the Pentagon, reporters could question officials together, building on one another’s questions to press for answers.
“They have shut off access to independent journalists being able to challenge principles and decision makers,” Copp said. “The briefing room is silent.”
Without that access, the reporters have had to rebuild their routines outside the building. Copp said much of her reporting is now conducted through encrypted messaging and private conversations, while sources face greater risks for speaking with journalists.
“I really wish that there was an award we could give to the people that still trust us to talk to us because they’re heroes, in my opinion,” Copp said.
The loss of access has also affected the relationships that journalists rely on to report. Copp described the importance of being physically present in the Pentagon and developing relationships with officials over years.
“We want to be in the Pentagon because you can bump into people in the hallways,” she said. “It’s those long-seeming relationships that are saving us right now.”
Cooper emphasized another essential part of the job: knowing how to ask questions that produce information.
“It’s not necessarily about showing how smart you are and how much you know by asking the most challenging question you can think to ask,” Cooper said. “It’s about eliciting information.”
For Alison Beyea, executive director of the Goldfarb Center for Public Affairs, those challenges make Lovejoy’s legacy particularly relevant.
“Lovejoy’s story is deeply connected to Colby and Waterville, but it also belongs to the larger story of the American democratic experiment,” Beyea said. “A free press is fundamental to our democracy, but it cannot be taken for granted. It must be taught, valued, and protected. Colby has a special responsibility to preserve that legacy and carry it forward.”
Lovejoy graduated from Waterville College in 1826, making this year the 200th anniversary of his graduation. His namesake award therefore carries an especially significant connection to the College this year.
For the journalists honored in his name, the ideals associated with Lovejoy are reflected in the realities of reporting today: protecting vulnerable sources, working without traditional access, and continuing to seek information when answers are difficult to obtain.
“For journalists and students today,” Beyea said, “his legacy is a reminder to remain curious, independent, and willing to pursue the truth even when doing so is difficult or unpopular.”
“This anniversary gives us an opportunity to consider how each generation must renew its commitment to a free press,” Beyea added. “Honoring these courageous journalists is one way Colby keeps that commitment alive.”
For the students who gathered to hear Cooper, Copp, and Stewart, the event offered more than a look back at the College’s history. It offered a firsthand view of the persistence, adaptability and responsibility that journalism can demand, and a reminder that the work of a free press does not belong only to the journalists being honored, but to the generations that follow them.
~ Mia Dinunzio `28
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