Some personal news...

I am now an assistant editor at Reason Magazine.

Who’s the newest assistant editor at Reason Magazine? You’re looking at him:

The news shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who’s followed my work. Reason has published some of my best, most in-depth reporting. In fact, they were the first non-student publication to take a chance with me, when I wrote a feature on Nashville’s Little Kurdistan.

I’ll still maintain the Substack, although you’ll have to go to Reason for most of my longer works. (And don’t worry — I will post ample links here.) Knowing Reason, it will be the same mix of playful and serious writing you’ve seen from me before.

I do want to acknowledge that getting a full-time job is a real privilege right now, because the news industry is in a bad place. The Intercept recently laid off a large number of staff and VICE News just ceased to exist. The cuts hit especially hard, because these were two outlets that inspired me to become a journalist to begin with.

There was a recent video mocking VICE for stupid, provocative headlines about sex and social justice. The implication is, of course, that the journalists had it coming because their work is useless. But the clickbait and the layoffs are symptom of the same problem.

Talk is cheap, and facts are expensive. And ad revenue is now the lifeblood of news media. A low-effort hot take drives the same amount of clicks as an in-depth investigation, and the latter is a lot more expensive to produce for everyone but the huge legacy outlets like the New York Times, who have a guaranteed consumer base.

If you like good journalism from independent outlets, then you should consume more good journalism from independent outlets. I’m very fortunate to have found a home for my reporting and analysis at Reason, and I hope you’ll join me there as loyal readers.