Both Elisa Lees Muñoz and Cindi Leive have built their decades-long careers creating and uplifting reporting by and for women. In this back-and-forth conversation, the two journalists discuss the risks women in the news face, the importance of women-centered and feminist reporting, and how we can best protect press freedom.

(This essay is part of the “Feminist Journalism is Essential to Democracy” project—Ms. magazine’s latest installment of Women & Democracy, presented in partnership with the International Women’s Media Foundation.)