The post-election media merry-go-round is upon us. Every four years, as outlets take stock of their newsrooms and draft their strategies for covering the new administration, they also cast a wandering eye around the industry, snapping up talents who have distinguished themselves over the course of the campaign.
The game of musical desks began before voters even went to the polls, as CNN poached Andrew Kaczynski and his KFILE team from BuzzFeed. McKay Coppins and Rosie Gray also departed Ben Smith’s shop, with both headed to The Atlantic, where new Editor in Chief Jeffrey Goldberg has been busy. Goldberg added Franklin Foer (mostly recently of Slate and, before that, editor of The New Republic) and Julia Ioffe (Politico) to his stable of writers.
Meanwhile, The New York Times tapped CBS News’ Sopan Deb and brought over Glenn Thrush, who joins a veritable Politico alumni association at the Grey Lady. Additionally, Salena Zito, one of the few reporters who saw Trump’s success coming, landed a regular gig with The Washington Examiner. Other journalists are sure to be on the move in the days ahead.
While not every journalist job jump is directly tied to the election, this is the season for shakeups, and we’ll be tracking industry moves through the end of the year, updating this page regularly. If you know of a media member switching outlets who isn’t listed here, drop us a tip at editors@cjr.org.
Here’s a breakdown of who’s switching desks, and where they’re each headed (last updated 12/23).
| JOURNALIST | LEFT | FOR |
|---|---|---|
| Andrew Kaczynski | BuzzFeed | CNN |
| Anthony Cormier | The Tampa Bay Times | BuzzFeed |
| Ashley Parker | The New York Times | The Washington Post |
| Barry Bagnato | CBS Radio | unknown |
| Bill Whitney | CBS Radio | unknown |
| Billy Sorrentino | Wired | Apple |
| Bruce Perlmutter | BuzzFeed | Conde Nast Entertainment |
| Carla Sosenko | Time Out New York | Entertainment Weekly |
| Casey Neistat | Beme | CNN |
| Charles Kaye | CBS Radio | unknown |
| Christopher Massie | BuzzFeed | CNN |
| David Freeman | The Huffington Post | NBC News |
| Deborah Needleman | T Magazine | unknown |
| Eben Shapiro | The Wall Street Journal | Time Magazine |
| Ellen Pollock | Bloomberg Businessweek | unknown |
| Franklin Foer | Slate, The New Republic | The Atlantic |
| Gilad Lotan | Betaworks | BuzzFeed |
| Glenn Thrush | Politico | The New York Times |
| Harley Carnes | CBS Radio | unknown |
| Jim Tankersley | The Washington Post | Vox |
| Joe Nocera | The New York Times | Bloomberg View |
| Josh Dawsey | The Wall Street Journal | Politico |
| Juleyka Lantigua-Williams | The Atlantic | NPR |
| Julia Ioffe | Politico | The Atlantic |
| Julie Hansen | Business Insider | [unnamed startup] |
| Kara Bloomgarden-Smoke | The New York Observer | Women’s Wear Daily |
| Kate Kelly | CNBC | The New York Times |
| Ken Wheaton | Advertising Age | unknown |
| Kia Kokalitcheva | Fortune | Axios |
| Kim Hart | The Federal Communications Commission | Axios |
| Kristin Roberts | Politico | McClatchy |
| Kyle Blaine | BuzzFeed | CNN |
| Lydia Polgreen | The New York Times | The Huffington Post |
| Matt Rosoff | Business Insider | CNBC |
| McKay Coppins | BuzzFeed | The Atlantic |
| Michael Luo | The New York Times | The New Yorker |
| Monica Crowley | Fox News | National Security Council (non-journalism) |
| Nancy Youssef | The Daily Beast | BuzzFeed |
| Nathan McDermott | BuzzFeed | CNN |
| Neil King | The Wall Street Journal | Fusion GPS (non-journalism) |
| Nikki Finke | Was on hiatus | Mediaite |
| Paul Volpe | The New York Times | Politico |
| Prachi Gupta | Cosmopolitan | Jezebel |
| Rana Foroohar | Time Magazine | Financial Times |
| Robert Wolf | Democratic fundraiser/ Obama + Hillary advisor | Fox News |
| Rosie Gray | BuzzFeed | The Atlantic |
| Robin Gradison | ABC News | NBC News |
| Salena Zito | Pittsburgh Tribune-Review | The Washington Examiner |
| Sara Fischer | The Washington Post | Axios |
| Sarah Mimms | Countable | BuzzFeed |
| Scot Gillespie | W. W. Grainger | The Washington Post |
| Sopan Deb | CBS | The New York Times |
| Stephen Mooallem | Harper’s BAZAAR | The Village Voice |
| Sudeep Reddy | The Wall Street Journal | Politico |
| Teddy Lynn | Ogilvy & Mather | Bloomberg Media |
| Tess Townsend | Inc. | Recode |
| Theo Balcomb | NPR | The New York Times |
| Tim Alberta | National Review | Politico |
| Tim Taliaferro | Texas Exes | Texas Monthly |
| Valerie Lapinski | Guardian US | Vox |
| Will Sommer | Washington City Paper | The Hill |
| Zoe Tillman | The National Law Journal/Legal Times | BuzzFeed |
