Ali Swenson
Ali Swenson reports at the intersection of politics, public policy and the online information ecosystem, focusing on how false narratives influence real-world decisions. At The Associated Press she is a national political reporter covering politics and the information landscape, with an emphasis on elections, democracy and the digital spaces where misinformation and extremism circulate. Her work frequently traces how partisan media, conspiracy communities and policy shifts affect voters, patients and institutions, turning dense rules and opaque narratives into clear stories. She brings an investigative, verification-driven approach to breaking news and enterprise reporting, using open-source techniques to test and dismantle contested claims.
Politics, Elections and Voting Systems
Swenson’s core beat in recent years is the machinery of American elections and the pressures placed on it by political actors and information campaigns. In a widely cited explainer on why American elections are both complicated and secure, she walks through the layers of safeguards, the decentralised nature of the system and the reasons election administration can be confusing to voters and observers.
Her reporting on a revamped federal voter eligibility database explains how changes to the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements program alter how officials check voter rolls, and why those shifts matter ahead of national votes.
She has covered the government’s effort to find noncitizens on voter rolls, following it through to the small number of prosecutions and arrests and placing those figures in the context of broader claims about voter fraud. Swenson also looks at how progressive media and insurgent candidates interact, documenting how left-leaning outlets amplify underdog campaigns and reshape intraparty dynamics.
Across these pieces she tends to pair granular detail on systems and numbers with clear language about what is at stake for democratic participation.
Misinformation, Extremism and Digital Narratives
A defining thread in Swenson’s work is close reporting on misinformation, disinformation and online extremism, and the way those forces loop back into mainstream politics.
In an award-cited enterprise story, she charts how far-right influencers and online communities that once championed Donald Trump turned against his administration, accusing it of failing to expose what they call the “deep state.” That piece shows her method: immersion in conspiracy-driven digital spaces, careful quoting of their narratives and a clear explanation of how those narratives constrain elected officials. Her professional role includes tracking false narratives, following trends in online propaganda and documenting the real-world consequences of internet-born claims, which informs both daily coverage and longer investigations.
Swenson is part of a news verification effort that specialises in testing viral stories and social posts against public records and open data, a background that allows her to move quickly from online chatter to sourced reporting. Whether she is writing about election denial, deep-state rhetoric or media ecosystems around insurgent candidates, she treats misinformation not as spectacle but as a structural force in politics.
Health Policy, Medicaid and Vaccines
Alongside elections, Swenson covers health policy fights where politics, misinformation and program rules collide.
In a recent story on a new Medicaid rule, she examines what happens when patients who are too sick to work are asked to prove it, detailing how documentation requirements can threaten benefits and increase stress on people with chronic conditions. The piece follows patients, advocates and administrators through the practical consequences of the rule, highlighting how policy language translates into decisions at doctors’ offices and welfare offices.
In coverage of a presidential executive order on childhood vaccines, co-written with a health correspondent, she lays out how changes to the recommended immunisation schedule deliver a symbolic win to vaccine-sceptical voters while offering an attack line to opponents. That story shows her ability to explain both the scientific and political dimensions of a health decision, including how online movements and partisan messaging shape public reaction.
Her syndicated work in regional outlets reflects this dual focus on elections and healthcare, with stories filed under both beats.
Format, Reach and Past Work
Swenson writes in a mix of formats, from daily spot news and explainers to longer enterprise pieces that follow a single theme across multiple actors and platforms.
Her election and health coverage appears not only on The Associated Press wire but also through partners such as KFF Health News and PBS NewsHour, extending her reach into specialised policy and broadcast audiences. Earlier in her career she reported for publications including Phoenix New Times and the Los Angeles Times, experience that adds alt-weekly and major metro perspectives to her current national work.
She has also contributed to outlets that focus on labour, social movements and misinformation, reinforcing her focus on how information and power intersect. Across these roles she has maintained a consistent interest in how rules, systems and narratives affect ordinary people, whether they are voters navigating complex election laws or patients confronting changing health program requirements.
4 more finance journalists.
Abigail Summerville
Abigail Summerville brings a leveraged finance background to her work covering consumer and retail mergers and acquisitions for Reuters. She reports on deal-making and capital markets across food, beverages, spirits, personal care, skincare, bath products and pet food. Her stories focus on transaction terms, ownership stakes, valuation, debt structures and funding sources. She often breaks news on potential sales and strategic reviews before formal announcements. Notable coverage includes Sazerac’s acquisition of Au Vodka, Blackstone’s exploration of a ZO Skin Health sale, CVC’s efforts to sell the parent of Dr Teal’s, and Colgate-Palmolive’s planned divestitures. She also covers consumer IPOs, including Jersey Mike’s and Black Rock Coffee, and co-writes Wall Street market reports. She joined Reuters in 2022 after three years covering leveraged finance and primary debt markets.
Adekunle Agbetiloye
Adekunle Agbetiloye is a senior reporter who connects capital flows, hard numbers and energy transition to the wider African economy. He works at Business Insider Africa, covering how money, technology and energy reshape economic growth, jobs and living conditions. His beat spans the African economy, technology, energy transition, climate change, startups and critical minerals, with a focus on concrete deals and data-led stories. He reports on African startup funding cycles, sovereign wealth funds, billionaire investors, multilateral and private investment programs, energy and power markets, Bitcoin mining, and economic policy choices. His work follows how governments finance spending, manage debt and respond to social pressure, and how sector snapshots and health and development metrics reveal links between macro indicators, corporate strategy and everyday costs.
Aimee Picchi
Aimee Picchi connects Social Security, retirement programs and economic policy directly to the financial security of ordinary Americans, showing how macro decisions hit household budgets. She is associate managing editor for CBS MoneyWatch at CBS News, covering business and personal finance with clear, accessible explanations of complex money issues. Her core beat is Social Security and retirement, interest rates and inflation, and how policy, markets and company strategies affect workers, retirees, savers and investors. She reports on benefit adequacy, looming Social Security cuts, COLA changes, Federal Reserve rate decisions, fuel costs, trade tensions and labor’s share of income, always framing coverage around pocketbook impacts. Her background includes retirement reporting fellowships, prior staff reporting on technology, media and business, an Institutional Investor book on affluent investors, and freelance work for national outlets. She also writes science fiction and fantasy and is a Nebula Award finalist.
Alex Harring
Alex Harring turns fast-moving market, economic and corporate developments into clear pre-market briefings that show what will matter when U.S. trading opens. He is a markets and economics reporter for CNBC’s digital platforms and writes Morning Squawk, a flagship daily newsletter that gives readers five key things to know before the stock market opens. His beat spans financial markets, investing, consumer trends and the U.S. economy, with coverage of central bank decisions, inflation, corporate strategy, sector moves and geopolitical shocks. He focuses on how policy, data and earnings shape equities, interest rates, currencies and investor positioning, linking price action with underlying drivers in real time and in reported features. Harring’s background reporting on corporate news, business and the economy across print, digital, broadcast and streaming informs his habit of connecting markets, companies and geopolitics in one frame.