What can a 250-year-old democracy learn from a 36-year-old upstart? That's one of several issues that reporter Stephanie Zimmermann and photographer Ashlee Rezin, of the Chicago Sun-Times/Chicago Public Media, reported on during a trip to Lithuania in April 2026.
Here's what this reporting project explores:
- Democracy: Americans haven’t had to physically fight for their democracy in a long time. In 1990, Lithuania was the first Soviet state to declare independence. Now it’s the Silicon Valley of the Baltics, with six tech unicorns. But as its economy took off, voter turnout dropped. How are Lithuanians protecting their democracy against apathy and foreign misinformation?
- Defense: A piece of land in Lithuania roughly 65 miles long could hold the key to the future of Europe. As Russia's war against Ukraine grinds on, what do Lithuanians want Americans to know about the Suwalki Gap, the Achilles’ heel of NATO?
- Economics: Changing U.S. tariffs on foreign goods have upended businesses on both sides of the Atlantic, and Lithuania's furniture industry is no exception.
- Plus: An interview with former President Valdas Adamkus as he nears his 100th birthday, and a feature on Lithuania's love of basketball.
Image caption: Thousands gather for an April 25, 2026, free speech protest in Cathedral Square in Vilnius, Lithuania, after a right-wing populist party in the government’s ruling coalition tried to control the country’s Ministry of Culture and threatened the independence of public broadcaster Lithuanian National Televison and Radio. Image by Ashlee Rezin/Chicago Sun-Times.
