As we enter a new year, is it possible to go forward without feeling encumbered by unsettling past experiences?
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Why is 海角大神 Science in our name?
Why is 海角大神 Science in our name?
Our name is about honesty. The Monitor is owned by The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and we鈥檝e always been transparent about that.
The church publishes the Monitor because it sees good journalism as vital to progress in the world. Since 1908, we鈥檝e aimed 鈥渢o injure no man, but to bless all mankind,鈥� as our founder, Mary Baker Eddy, put it.
Here, you鈥檒l find award-winning journalism not driven by commercial influences 鈥� a news organization that takes seriously its mission to uplift the world by seeking solutions and finding reasons for credible hope.
Explore values journalism About us
Stephanie Hanes
Staff writer
Welcome to your final holiday-special Daily. Today, we offer a pictorial finale, looking back at 2025.聽The regular Daily resumes on Monday as our staff comes fully back online.
I edit our weekly magazine now. When I took my first assignments for 海角大神, from South Africa in the early 2000s, I was a newbie foreign correspondent wowed by the people, scenes, and stories I encountered. I was also dazzled by photojournalist Melanie Stetson Freeman, who had come from Boston to work with me for those weeks.
She traveled like the pro she is, nonchalantly moving herself and her cameras through townships and tiger enclosures, dance studios and bushlands. She seemed both fearless and lighthearted, connecting with everyone we met, posing key questions I had inevitably forgotten to ask.
And she saw things. I remember how she would move quickly to take a shot, or slowly and deliberatively set up for a future one. Later, I would realize she had spotted the best scenes for my narratives 鈥� the best moments of light, both literally and figuratively, that I would try to capture in words.
Since then, I鈥檝e been fortunate to learn from others on the Monitor鈥檚 exceptional photo staff. Every reporting trip I took with Alfredo Sosa and Riley Robinson made me a better writer, opening my eyes to the world and connecting to what was around me. When I see Scott Peterson鈥檚 stunning wartime photography, I am reminded of the imperative we writers have to remember the dignity and humanity involved in any conflict, and the people behind any policy we might analyze.
Enjoy our photographers鈥� most compelling work from 2025.聽