About Us
Long Lead is an award-winning journalism studio focused on finding, financing, producing, and publishing original, in-depth reporting.
We contract and fund veteran independent writers, photographers, filmmakers, and designers to produce best-in-class editorial products.
With an eye for ambitious, ground-breaking stories, we publish work about any subject, in any medium, anywhere in the world.
“The journalism on Long Lead is nothing short of stunning....
This is what I imagine long-form news will look like in the future.”
STAFF
John Patrick Pullen
Over nearly two decades, JPP has worked as both a freelance journalist and a staff editor at TIME and Fortune, gaining expertise in both sides of the trade. As Long Lead’s founding editor, he’s using that experience to build a new model for journalism — one that puts independent contributors first.
Sarah Rogers
As creative director, Sarah partners with photojournalists, filmmakers, designers, agencies, and researchers to bring groundbreaking visuals to Long Lead’s award-winning reporting. She previously led innovative creative teams at CNN and The Daily Beast, and her work has been featured in outlets including The New York Times, ABC News, Rolling Stone, and Prison Journalism Project.
Jensen Rubinstein
As audience development manager, Jensen finds the most compelling ways to break down Long Lead’s features for audiences across platforms. She previously worked as an audience editor at Business Insider and The Messenger, creating innovative strategies to reach millions of people.
Emily Barone
As managing editor, Emily creates, implements, and oversees systems that facilitate Long Lead’s editorial and audience objectives. Emily has a deep understanding of impactful journalism from her prior work at TIME, The Wall Street Journal, CNNMoney, and other newsrooms. She is also an independent data journalist with a passion for visual storytelling.
SELECT AWARDS
Best Non-Traditional News Source
2023 American Journalism Online AwardBest Specialized Journalism Site
2023 Society of Professional Journalists Sigma Chi Delta AwardBest Individual Editorial Feature
2023, 2024 Webby AwardsBest Podcast
2024 Edward R. Murrow AwardsBest History Podcast
2022, 2024 Signal AwardsBest of 2021
Longreads, Longform, and The BrowserCONTRIBUTORS
Garrett M. Graff
A journalist and historian, Garrett M. Graff has covered politics, technology, and national security for The New York Times, POLITICO, and WIRED. His book Watergate: A New History was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.
Xan Rice
A former foreign correspondent for The Guardian and Financial Times, and former features editor for The New Statesman, Xan Rice has contributed to The New Yorker, Granta, and The Atlantic. His Long Lead story “The Depths She’ll Reach” was anthologized in The Year's Best Sports Writing 2022.
Jun Cen
An award-winning Chinese illustrator and animator, Jun Cen has been recognized by the Society of Illustrators and American Illustration. His art has appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker, and The Washington Post.
Darren Loucaides
Covering the intersection of politics and tech, Darren Loucaides has written for outlets including WIRED, Financial Times, The Guardian, and openDemocracy.
Daan Verhoeven
A world record-holding freediver, Daan Verhoeven has photographed almost all AIDA freediving world championships since 2012. His work has appeared in The New York Times and The Guardian, among other outlets.
Linda Rodriguez McRobbie
Specializing in science, culture, and history, Linda Rodriguez McRobbie has contributed to The Atlantic, The Guardian, Smithsonian Magazine, The Boston Globe, and other outlets. Her latest book Ouch! explores the science of pain.
Parker Molloy
A Chicago-based media critic, Parker Molloy’s work has appeared in outlets including The New York Times and Rolling Stone. She writes the award-winning newsletter “The Present Age,” and formerly served as editor-at-large at Media Matters for America.
Mark Yarm
Journalist Mark Yarm has written for The New Yorker, The Washington Post, WIRED, and other publications. He authored Everybody Loves Our Town: An Oral History of Grunge, a TIME book of the year, and was tech desk editor at BuzzFeed News.
Emily Sohn
Journalist Emily Sohn has written for National Geographic, The New York Times, Outside, Nature, Scientific American, The Washington Post, and other publications. She covers science, health, and the intersection of people, history, and ideas.
Maranie R. Staab
Documenting human rights issues, social movements, and the effects of conflict, photojournalist Maranie R. Staab is a 2020 Pulitzer Center Reporting Fellow whose work has been published in The New York Times, VICE, The Atlantic, The New Yorker, The Huffington Post, and The Guardian.
Samuel Braslow
Los Angeles-based photojournalist and reporter Samuel Braslow’s work has been featured in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, NBC News, Politico, Newsweek, and TIME. He previously worked as a staff writer at the Beverly Hills Courier, before which he wrote for Los Angeles magazine. He has also contributed to ESPN, National Geographic, The Advocate, and Dame magazine.
Jasper Craven
Investigative journalist Jasper Craven specializes in the military and veterans' issues for publications including The New York Times, The Atlantic, New York, The Intercept, PBS News Hour, Vice, Reveal, Mother Jones, The New Republic, and The Nation. As a Boston Globe Spotlight Team fellow, he contributed to the Pulitzer Prize finalist series “Shadow Campus” about dangerous off-campus housing.
Meghann Cuniff
Described as “arguably the most influential legal journalist working today” by The Washington Post, Meghann Cuniff covers courts in Southern California. Her work has also appeared in Los Angeles magazine, Bloomberg Law, ABA Journal, and the Los Angeles Times. Her independent coverage of L.A.’s courts has earned national attention for her Law & Crime News newsletter.
Andrew Nusca
An author, editor, host, journalist, and media executive, Andrew Nusca has written for GQ, Men’s Vogue, Money, New York, New York Daily News, Popular Mechanics, and TIME, among other titles. As the former digital editor for Fortune, he was integral to defining the Silicon Valley startup scene in the 2010s. Based in L.A, he now serves as editorial director of Fortune Brainstorm Tech.
Rebecca Murga
A Chicago-born, Latinx, WGA writer and director, Rebecca Murga specializes in telling stories of her Puerto Rican roots and military experience. While serving as a Public Affairs Officer in the US Army, she was deployed to Iraq, Kuwait, and Afghanistan and was awarded a Bronze Star for her deployment as one of the first women attached to the Navy SEALS and Special Forces.
Jacob Kushner
An international correspondent who writes from Africa, Germany, and the Caribbean, Kushner reports on migration, human rights, foreign aid, investment, terrorism, among other topics. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The New Yorker, Harper’s, and beyond. He is also the author of Look Away: A True Story of Murders, Bombings, and a Far-Right Campaign to Rid Germany of Immigrants.
Allison Shelley
A Washington D.C.-based independent documentary photographer, Shelley has reported from D.R. Congo, Senegal, Nigeria, Haiti, India, Nepal and the U.S. for outlets including National Geographic, The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Washington Post and beyond. Co-founder and co-director of the non-profit Women Photojournalists of Washington (WPOW), she is an outspoken advocate for journalist safety.
“Long Lead loves the big swing, and it's been a great home for some of the most ambitious and big-thinking journalism of my career.”
Work With Us
Long Lead collaborates with independent writers, visual artists, and designers to champion stories that put impact above all else. Working with us offers distinct advantages, including:
Fair and Fast Pay
Our rates are among the best in the industry and include expenses.
Paradigm-Breaking Design
Long Lead’s stories dictate the form our bespoke projects ultimately take. This means templates won’t constrain your ideas, and pop-up ads won’t distract from them.
A Singular Focus
Undistracted by the news cycle or the demands of high-volume publishing, Long Lead exclusively develops original, in-depth journalism.
Full Editorial Support
Long Lead provides the same level of editorial, production, and legal support journalists should expect from a traditional publication.
High Production Values
We invest in world-class reporting, imagery, audio, and more to create journalism that doubles as art.
Creative Collaboration
We welcome contributors to have a voice in the creative process. After all, photographers also read, and reporters have an eye for detail, too.
Creator-Friendly Rights
We believe independent journalists, not publishers, should own their work.
“Long Lead is a place for big, bold projects that allow reporters and writers to fully stretch into what they could become.”
PITCH US
What story have you always wanted to tell? Narratives, photo essays, data-rich explainers — we’re interested in them all, and more. Get our attention with a solid hook, pull us in with riveting detail, and sell us on why you’re the right journalist for the job.pitches@longlead.com