The Kicker

Latest Episodes:

Ruth Ann Harnisch on life as the fairy godmother of newsletters, podcasts, and blogs. Sep 17, 2026

Show notes

If you had lots of money to give away, what kind of journalism would you fund? City hall reporting? Big-swing investigative projects? Detailed coverage of your favorite sports team? The magazine of every narrative writer’s dreams?

Over nearly three decades as a professional philanthropist, Ruth Ann Harnisch has funded many kinds of journalism, several of which fit none of those buckets. Deez Links, Delia Cai’s reliably hilarious “culture and online fixation report.” Oldster Magazine, Sari Botton’s excellent newsletter about aging. The Rumpus, the storied literary magazine recently relaunched by Roxane Gay and Debbie Millman. One estimate hassaid Harnisch ashas been a founding supporter of more than a hundred newsletters—the vast majority of them as no-strings-attached gifts, not investments. The common thread? Publications the world would be worse off without, from the serious to the delightfully silly.

I interviewed Harnisch about her road to philanthropy, how she makes her donation decisions, and why more people don’t follow her philosophy of giving. Listen below, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Debbie Millman, “Design Matters: Ruth Ann Harnisch,” PRINT.

“Ruth Ann Harnisch,” IMDb.

“About the Harnisch Foundation.”

Tracy Gary, Inspired Philanthropy.

Host, Megan Greenwell

Producer, Amanda Darrach

So Are Nonfiction Books Dead or Not? Sep 03, 2026

Show notes

Anna Sproul-Latimer, a literary agent, on what a shrinking market means for journalists.

After a boom time for nonfiction books during the pandemic, sales have been flat or down for multiple years running. Even veteran nonfiction authors are having trouble landing book deals, and those who do are getting less money. For ambitious journalists, that’s bad news; writing a book has historically been one of the best ways to level up one’s career and supplement low newsroom salaries.

Anna Sproul-Latimer—a veteran agent who represents me, among many other journalists, and writes a terrific newsletter about the publishing industry—doesn’t dispute that things are rough out there. But nor does she buy the narrative, popularized by a viral Wall Street Journal article in May, that the industry is in an irreversible death spiral. There’s still an appetite for reported nonfiction books, she says; the problem is that too many people misunderstand who’s buying them and what that means for what writers should pitch.

I interviewed Sproul-Latimer about the reality of the publishing industry, how she’s seen things change over the course of her nearly twenty years as an agent, and how journalists should think about making book-writing part of their careers. Listen below, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Show notes:

Anna Sproul-Latimer, “Is Nonfiction Dead?” How to Glow in the Dark.

Anna Sproul-Latimer, “How I Evaluate Submissions,” How to Glow in the Dark.

Anna Sproul-Latimer, “A Note on Our Daddy Issues,” How to Glow in the Dark.

James B. Stewart, Follow the Story.

OK Go, “This Too Shall Pass.”

Host, Megan Greenwell
Producer, Amanda Darrach

Kenya Hunter took a terrifying leap out of journalism. She couldn’t be happier. Aug 20, 2026

Show notes

One of my favorite dive-bar conversations with fellow journalists is “What would you do if you couldn’t do this anymore?” We’ve all thought about it; the tough economics of our industry haven’t left us any choice. It’s such an interesting window into people’s psyches: friends have told me about secret dreams of going to medical or law school, opening a restaurant, running a bed-and-breakfast, teaching kindergartners, and more. (Interestingly, no one has ever told me they would go into PR, which I assume is the most common destination for former journalists by a mile.)

For years, I counted myself a fan of Kenya Hunter’s work covering health access for Capital B and the Associated Press. Now I admire her for another reason: she took the leap to find a career she loved more than journalism. In 2025, after her contract at the AP wasn’t renewed, she did get one of those PR jobs. But she also trained as a doula. Today she provides postpartum care and nutrition counseling to new parents and offers support around abortions to those who need it, with a particular focus on Black people in Atlanta, where she lives.

I talked to Kenya about the transition from writing about healthcare to providing it, what she learned from reporting on race in jobs that weren’t “race reporting,” and how she thinks about her future after so many years of focusing on journalism. Listen below, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Show notes:

Examining the Lack of Diversity at the Maggie L. Walker Governor’s School: A Three-Part Series, Kenya Hunter, Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Why Black Doulas Say They Can’t Fix Georgia’s Maternal Mortality Crisis Alone, Kenya Hunter, Capital B.

More Wellstar Closures Bring Dwindling Health Care Options, Kenya Hunter, Capital B.

Hundreds of places in the US said racism was a public health crisis. What’s changed? Kenya Hunter, Associated Press.

Finally I Can Talk, Kenya Hunter.
Credits:

Host: Megan Greenwell

Producer: Amanda Darrach

Twenty Years of Food Blogs: Smitten Kitchen’s Deb Perelman has never needed AI to develop a recipe. Aug 06, 2026

Show notes

A friend recently posted a photo on Instagram of a giant zucchini harvested from her backyard in Chicago, with a caption that she needed recipes that use a ton of zucchini. I knew exactly where to send her. The best food blog on the internet, Smitten Kitchen, has thirty-seven zucchini recipes in its archives, ranging from quesadillas to latkes to chocolate bread. I sent my friend the link to a zucchini butter spaghetti recipe from five years ago—an internet classic.

This summer, Smitten Kitchen celebrates its twentieth anniversary. Since Deb Perelman started the site, in 2006, she’s weathered wave after wave of changes to how food writing on the internet works. A former art therapist and (briefly) tech reporter, she started writing online before Instagram or TikTok existed, and before Twitter and YouTube were part of the job. She was part of an ecosystem of home-cooking blogs, all of which would link to one another, and most of which faded away years ago. SEO boomed, then crashed as a result of Google algorithm changes. Now many people get their recipes from ChatGPT. Yet Smitten Kitchen keeps going, with Perelman still doing almost everything herself.

I learned to cook from Smitten Kitchen, so I was thrilled to talk to Perelman about what’s changed and what hasn’t during her twenty years in food blogging. (Her passionate monologue about the rise of AI in internet writing is an all-timer.) Listen below, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Show notes:

About Smitten Kitchen, Deb Perelman, Smitten Kitchen.

Frequently asked questions, Deb Perelman, Smitten Kitchen.

Spring panzanella, Deb Perelman, Smitten Kitchen.

Zucchini butter spaghetti, Deb Perelman, Smitten Kitchen.

Credits:

Host: Megan Greenwell

Producer: Amanda Darrach

What Went Wrong: A first-time editor in chief reflects on a startup that didn’t work Jul 23, 2026

Show notes

When The Barbed Wire debuted, in 2024, it promised “something different: a site that combines the best of savvy, new-model online journalism with Texas’s deep—and very old—association with progressive ideas.” Its goal, Olivia Messer, the editor in chief, wrote at the time, was to reach the millions of Texans who weren’t reading their local newspaper or any statewide news outlet, and to do it in a way that created a new hybrid for-profit/nonprofit revenue model for journalism.

The Barbed Wire lasted for a little under two years, publishing 725 stories. This spring, it ran out of money. All five journalists on staff lost their jobs. (Two occasional newsletters remain, written by freelancers.) The hybrid business model, it turned out, had made it more difficult to bring in philanthropy money; the roster of paid subscribers never grew big enough to keep the operation afloat.

It’s easier, and more fun, to focus on what’s working in journalism: new startups, growing newsrooms, initiatives at major outlets. But I also think it’s important to dissect what hasn’t worked. In our conversation, Messer was admirably candid about what factors brought down The Barbed Wire. Listen below, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Show notes:

Goodbye for Now, Olivia Messer, Bluesky.

Our Independent Newsroom Was Built on a Ferocious, Delusional Sense of Hope. Help Us Keep It Going, Olivia Messer, The Barbed Wire.

Are You There, Texas? It’s Me, Olivia, Olivia Messer, The Barbed Wire.

‘Gods in the Building’: How the Texas Senate Buries Sexual Harassment Complaints and Enables Bad Actors, Olivia Messer and Cara Kelly, Texas Monthly.

‘This Is Not Hazing. This Is Rape’: Inside a Texas Town’s Football Nightmare, Olivia Messer, Daily Beast.

Credits:

Host: Megan Greenwell

Producer: Amanda Darrach

Welcome to Hell: A site with personality big enough for the city it covers. Jul 09, 2026

Show notes

Since last year’s uber-competitive New York City mayoral primary, my favorite election night activity has been watching Hell Gate’s live broadcasts. CNN it is not. The Hell Gate show is available only on YouTube; correspondents hold tiny mics with a card bearing the company logo; the set includes a disco ball. During the most recent stream, during the state’s congressional primary last month, Nick Pinto, a Hell Gate reporter, delivered coverage from his bike while commuting between candidate watch parties. The effect is delightful, as the team has managed to turn one of the most staid forms of news into something lively and fun that also offers some of the smartest political coverage in the city.

In just over four years, lively, fun, and smart have become the Hell Gate brand. The site, which is worker-owned and subscription-powered, boasts ambitious investigations—such as this year’s Courts of Contempt project, about the city’s broken process for selecting judges—as well as coverage of the goofy and absurd. The team also hosts events, makes memes, and generally offers something entirely different from any other local news outlet around.

I talked to Max Rivlin-Nadler, a co-owner and copublisher of Hell Gate, about professionalizing the livestreams without sacrificing personality; how reporting on Zohran Mamdani is different from covering his predecessor, Eric Adams; and the site’s coming expansion of its cultural coverage. Listen below, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Show notes:

Courts of Contempt, Hell Gate and Type Investigations.

2026 Primary Election — LIVE with HellGate, Hell Gate.

The Hell Gate NYC 2025 Primary Night Livestream, Hell Gate.

HellGate election graphics, Hell Gate.

Tall Ships. TALL SHIIIIIIIPS, Hell Gate.

HellGate 2025 Annual Report, Hell Gate.
One Hellish Night, Lauren Watson, CJR
Credits:

Host: Megan Greenwell

Producer: Amanda Darrach

Why Do You Have to Run from Us? Local reporters are struggling to get answers from the politicians they cover. Jun 30, 2026

Show notes

Generations of local journalists mostly took for granted their ability to access elected officials. Talking to the local newspaper or TV station was one of the only ways to get the word out, so politicians didn’t have much choice—even if they were mad at the coverage.

It’s not quite so simple these days. A mayor can talk directly to constituents through social media, or through influencers friendly to their politics. Anti-press sentiment is rampant across the political spectrum, leading some politicians to boycott reporters altogether. As Kyle Paoletta reported in a feature for CJR’s recent Access Issue, elected officials across the political spectrum seem less likely than ever to talk to journalists.

Brandon Johnson, the mayor of Chicago, is one of those press-shy elected officials. Melody Mercado, a staff writer for Block Club Chicago, is one of those journalists often looking for answers. As part of a special event tied to the release of the Access Issue, I interviewed Mercado about the ever-changing relationship between Johnson and the press, why access matters for local journalism, and how she does her job without it. “It’s never good, whenever you see a line that says XYZ did not respond to questions,” as she put it. Listen below or wherever you get your podcasts.

Show notes:

City Paying Well More Than Typical Rent for Migrant Shelter Buildings—and Keeping Details Secret, Mick Dumke and Melody Mercado, Block Club Chicago

Johnson’s ex–communications director faced misconduct complaints before firing, Mitchell Armentrout, Chicago Sun-Times

Go Pound Sand!, Kyle Paoletta, CJR
Credits:
Host: Megan Greenwell
Producer: Amanda Darrach
Audio engineer: Fernando Fermino
Video technician: Alex Hamm

No Fanboys Need Apply: Wired bares real teeth. Jun 23, 2026

Show notes

For a certain type of tech executive, and a certain type of fan of tech executives, the point of technology journalism is to cheerfully show off the cool new toys Silicon Valley creates.

For the staff of Wired, the point of technology journalism is to hold the most powerful companies and people in our society accountable for the decisions they make. That has made the magazine remarkably unpopular with many people in the tech world (including newly minted trillionaire Elon Musk) and more popular than ever with everyone else: the magazine added more than two hundred thousand subscribers in the past year.

Tim Marchman, Wired’s senior director of science, politics, and security, loves accountability journalism and has a particular fondness for scoops showing the tight ties between our government and Bay Area tech leaders. With his colleague Leah Feiger, the senior politics editor at Wired, Marchman dramatically expanded the magazine’s politics staff and oversaw its award-winning coverage of how Musk and a group of teenagers ran a buzzsaw through the federal government, and what havoc they wreaked in the name of “efficiency.”

Earlier this month, I interviewed Marchman at Jimmy’s Corner during an event to celebrate the release of CJR’s new special issue, about what access means in journalism today. Listen below to hear him discuss why going hard on politics was a natural choice for a tech magazine, explain how his team got so many scoops about DOGE, and respond to the haters.

Show Notes:

A 25-Year-Old with Elon Musk Ties Has Direct Access to the Federal Payment System, Vittoria Elliott, Dhruv Mehrotra, Leah Feiger, and Tim Marchman, Wired.

The Young, Inexperienced Engineers Aiding Elon Musk’s Government Takeover, Vittoria Elliott, Wired.

Inside Elon Musk’s ‘Digital Coup,’ Makena Kelly, David Gilbert, Vittoria Elliott, Kate Knibbs, Dhruv Mehrotra, Dell Cameron, Tim Marchman, Leah Feiger, Zoë Schiffer, Wired.

Credits:

Host: Megan Greenwell
Producer: Amanda Darrach
Audio engineer: Fernando Fermino
Video technician: Alex Hamm

Sports Illustrated’s Emma Baccellieri on covering the changing world of women’s basketball. Jun 11, 2026

Show notes

One of the most fascinating sports business stories of the moment is the explosive growth of the WNBA. TV viewership is up dramatically, multiple teams sell out regularly, and stars like Caitlin Clark and A’ja Wilson have become household names. This year, the players’ union won a groundbreaking new contract, including their first-ever revenue share and a 4x jump in minimum salaries.

The league’s recent surge in popularity has also brought new questions of access. The WNBA was the only major pro league that didn’t reopen its locker rooms to reporters after COVID closures, and many media outlets have clamored for a way to talk to players that doesn’t require going through team PR. The Indiana Fever stripped a press credential from a longtime beat writer after disagreeing with his framing of a Clark injury. For years, women’s basketball was enough of a backwater that journalists had more or less free rein; now everyone is trying to figure out what meaningful coverage looks like in a transformed world.

Last week, as part of a special daylong event tied to the release of CJR’s new Access Issue, Sports Illustrated staff writer Emma Baccellieri—one of the best reporters out there focusing on women’s sports—stopped by to talk about how covering the league has changed. I interviewed her about how her job has evolved, why it’s more difficult than ever to ask questions of WNBA players, and what’s happening with college players getting paid through name, image, and likeness (NIL) deals. Listen below—or wherever you get your podcasts.

Show notes:

For Veterans Like Alysha Clark, This New WNBA Era Just Means More, Emma Baccellieri, Sports Illustrated

Should We Be Worried About Caitlin Clark and the Fever? Clare Brennan, Dan Falkenheim, Blake Silverman, Emma Baccellieri, Sports Illustrated

Expect Officiating to Be a Recurring Storyline During This WNBA Season, Emma Baccellieri, Sports Illustrated

Fever reporter claims credential revoked over Clark reporting, Michael Voepel, ESPN
Megan Greenwell, host
Amanda Darrach, producer
Fernando Fermino, audio engineer
Alex Hamm, video technician

How Documented is reinventing immigration coverage. May 21, 2026

Show notes

Some of the most interesting journalism experiments aren’t taking place on the websites of publications. Instead, they’re happening on Facebook and WhatsApp and Reddit and WeChat and even Nextdoor, which I didn’t realize was anything other than a place for Karens to complain about loitering.

Documented, an eight-year-old digital outlet that covers and serves immigrants in New York City and beyond, is behind many of these experiments—from producing a Chinese-language newsletter on WeChat to starting conversations on Nextdoor with Haitian Creole speakers in Flatbush, Brooklyn. In her first eighteen months at Documented, Ethar El-Katatney, the editor in chief, has elevated the publication’s investigative work and begun an expansion into video, but she refuses to lose sight of the mission: to give immigrants the information they need on the platforms they use.

I interviewed El-Katatney about the common threads between Documented’s guides to city living and its long investigations, how differently her reporters work depending on what community they serve, and why Documented is expanding its ambitions to help other newsrooms.

Show notes:

Documented Gears Up for Trump, Lauren Watson, CJR

The Lost Prisoners of Chinatown’s Gang Era, April Xu, Documented

Fake Immigration Courts Take Advantage of Immigrants Desperate for Answers, Rommel H. Ojeda, Documented.

Guide of Resources for Immigrants, Nicolás Ríos, Documented

Megan Greenwell, host

Amanda Darrach, producer