Matt Cohen
Riverdale Park,MD
Summary
A seasoned political and investigative reporter based in Washington, D.C. with a decade of experience reporting on voting rights, national and state politics, dark money, far-right extremism, disinformation and threats to democracy.
Overview
11
11
years of professional experience
Work History
Senior Staff Writer
Democracy Docket
01.2024 - Current
- Led in-depth investigations and penned enterprising features on voting rights issues and threats to democracy.
- Authored Eye On The Right: a weekly newsletter with more than 180,000 subscribers focused on exposing right-wing figures and trends.
- Covered breaking news and quick-reaction stories on federal and state elections, voting rights and GOP misinformation and disinformation.
- Collaborated with a small newsroom to produce well-rounded and comprehensive news coverage of voting rights and democracy across multiple digital platforms.
Senior Investigative Reporter
The American Independent
06.2021 - 10.2023
- Conducted investigations into the moneyed interests and political connections of federal and state-level campaigns
- Traced Republican party connections to major dark money networks and far-right extremist groups like the Koch Brothers, the Uihleins, the Oath Keepers, Proud Boys, and other similar donors and groups
- Wrote an array of explainers, features, and fact-checks on the financial networks funding elections and emerging online extremist movements, conspiracies, and disinformation
Ben Bagdikian Senior Investigative Fellow
Mother Jones
06.2019 - 06.2021
- Reported on a variety of beats for a nationally recognized, award-winning magazine, with a focus on federal corruption, gun policy, extremist movements, national politics, Republican politics, and money in politics
- Wrote a variety of articles for both the web and print, from quick breaking news blog posts to detailed investigative features and enterprise stories
- Fact-checked and researched a number of investigative features, with a focus on stories involving money in politics, corruption, and legally sensitive reporting
Arts Editor
WASHINGTON CITY PAPER
09.2015 - 06.2019
- Oversaw the arts coverage of D.C.'s only alternative weekly, from writing reported stories, to editing more than 20 freelancers
- Reported on a number of local news, criminal justice, and social justice issues, from 4,000-word in-depth reported investigative stories to breaking news and on-the-ground reporting of protests and rallies
- Worked with a small team of dedicated journalists to collaborate on publishing the D.C
- Region's only alternative weekly newspaper, from issues responding to breaking regional news, to special issues highlighting the city's underserved communities
Editor-in-Chief
DCist
08.2013 - 09.2015
- Managed a team of more than a dozen freelancers, as well as an Associate Editor, to assign and edit stories
- Shaped the voice and direction of one of the region's most popular local news websites
- Worked on a small team of two full-time employees to grow DCist's readership by tens of thousands of readers in just a few years
Education
Bachelor of Arts - English and Communication Arts
Salisbury University
Salisbury, MD05.2010
Skills
- Filing FOIA requests
- Scouring FEC filings
- Analyzing 990s
- Lobbying disclosures
- Court records
- OSINT data
- Informed sources
Timeline
Senior Staff Writer
Democracy Docket
01.2024 - Current
Senior Investigative Reporter
The American Independent
06.2021 - 10.2023
Ben Bagdikian Senior Investigative Fellow
Mother Jones
06.2019 - 06.2021
Arts Editor
WASHINGTON CITY PAPER
09.2015 - 06.2019
Editor-in-Chief
DCist
08.2013 - 09.2015
Bachelor of Arts - English and Communication Arts
Salisbury University
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