Kronika
Millions of documents. Decades of independent journalism. One mission: defending public memory against digital oblivion.
Kronika is a civic technology initiative dedicated to preserving independent journalism under threat. Founded in 2022 by PEN America and Bard College, Kronika began with an ambitious effort to archive two decades of Russian independent media through the Russian Independent Media Archive (RIMA). Since then, Kronika has evolved into a broader preservation platform, expanding to include the Central American Independent Media Archive (CAIMA) and other regions where independent journalism is at risk. By safeguarding vulnerable journalism, making it searchable and publicly accessible, and building resilient digital infrastructure, Kronika ensures that authoritarian and anti democratic regimes cannot erase the historical record. In an era of censorship, disinformation, and digital repression, Kronika protects the evidence, stories, and collective memory that free societies depend on.
Autocratic attacks on the media aim to destroy the historical record. Autocracies end, and to rebuild societies after them, preserving the record is essential. That’s what Kronika is designed to do.
– Masha Gessen
What You Need to Know
Kronika builds preservation infrastructure. We create digital tools and archives that protect endangered journalism and make it accessible across borders, languages, and political contexts.
Digital oblivion occurs when vital public-interest information disappears from the digital sphere. It can result from censorship, failing infrastructure, lost domains, platform closures, or exclusion from the knowledge systems, including AI models and search tools, that increasingly shape public understanding of the world.
Launched in 2023 with the content from more than a dozen outlets, the digital archive includes more than 70 independent national, regional, investigative, and cultural news outlets publishing since President Putin took office in 2000.
Visit the Archives
Learn More
Russia was a cautionary tale. Now US risks becoming it. (USA Today)
In the US, a factual National Archives still exists — but for how long? (The Hill)
