The Center for Investigative Reporting, which produces Mother Jones and Reveal, has announced the hiring of Anna Merlan as senior reporter, who will cover technology, extremism and disinformation. She brings extensive experience to the beat, as the author of the book “Republic of Lies: American Conspiracy Theorists and Their Surprising Rise to Power,” which was published in 2020.
“The dangerous co-mingling of disinformation and extremism has been amplified by social media, making it one of the most critical stories of our time,” said CIR Executive Editor James West. “Anna is exceptionally skilled at explaining this phenomenon and will join a newsroom dedicated to showing how new technologies have enabled political extremism to flourish and enter the American mainstream.”
Prior to joining the Center for Investigative Reporting, Merlan was a senior staff writer at Vice Media, where she wrote about conspiracy theories, cults, crime, subcultures, alternative religious movements, sexual abuse, media and the anti-trafficking industry; and before that she worked as a senior investigative reporter at Gizmodo Media Group, and a senior staff writer at Jezebel.
Merlan will join a team dedicated to continuing the nonprofit newsroom’s longstanding focus on the dangerous intersections of disinformation and extremism — coverage that spans from the Unabomber to Pizzagate, climate disinformation, the alt-right and COVID-era falsehoods.
Merlan is based in Los Angeles, and her Twitter/X handle is @annamerlan.
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