As The New Yorker’s chief Washington correspondent, Mayer specializes in:
When approaching Mayer with story ideas:
"Focus on verifiable paper trails – donor lists, court filings, internal memos. The most compelling pitches demonstrate how hidden systems affect ordinary citizens."
Jane Mayer's four-decade career exemplifies the pinnacle of investigative political journalism. Beginning as The Wall Street Journal's first female White House correspondent during the Reagan administration, she honed her skills covering presidential politics before pivoting to groundbreaking investigations at The New Yorker. Her work consistently reveals the hidden architectures of power, from post-9/11 national security decisions to the Koch brothers' political machine.
"Without facts, deception will win. Free people need a free press."
Mayer’s 2024 investigation exposed how Trump leveraged oil industry connections to secure unprecedented campaign financing. Through confidential donor agreements and interviews with energy executives, she revealed how drilling rights promises became currency for political contributions. This piece exemplifies her ability to connect corporate interests to electoral strategy, using campaign finance disclosures and insider accounts to map influence networks.
Her National Magazine Award-winning series on post-9/11 interrogation practices combined legal analysis with human stories. By obtaining classified memos and interviewing both interrogators and detainees, Mayer documented the systemic breakdown of constitutional protections. This work directly influenced congressional debates about executive power limitations.
In her definitive account of dark money’s rise, Mayer spent five years tracing Koch Industries’ funding of libertarian think tanks and grassroots organizations. The book’s impact persists in campaign finance reform debates, cited in multiple Supreme Court amicus briefs regarding Citizens United.
Mayer prioritizes stories exposing financial influence on policy. Successful pitches should identify undisclosed funding sources or novel corporate-political partnerships. Her Koch brothers investigation began with a tip about university endowments financing climate change denial research.
With unprecedented access to intelligence community sources, Mayer seeks stories about surveillance overreach or whistleblower retaliation. Pitch national security angles with documented civil liberties impacts, like her NSA wiretapping exposé that led to FISA court reforms.
She values proposals connecting current events to underreported historical precedents. The Trump oil industry analysis drew parallels to 1920s Teapot Dome scandals – pitch stories with archival research components showing cyclical corruption patterns.
While known for human stories, Mayer’s work integrates complex datasets. Her dark money research team analyzed 10,000+ nonprofit filings – pitch ideas combining FOIA-obtained records with character-driven storytelling.
With recent focus on judicial independence, she seeks stories about court system pressures. Successful pitches might explore state judicial elections funded by corporate PACs or federal judge lobbying efforts.
Honoring her NSA surveillance revelations, this prestigious award from Long Island University recognizes reporting that "exposes truths that powerful institutions seek to conceal." Mayer’s work joined previous winners’ ranks including Seymour Hersh and Bob Woodward.
The Sidney Hillman Foundation awarded Dark Money for its "meticulous documentation of democracy’s erosion." Judged by labor historians and civil rights leaders, this prize highlights work advancing social justice through investigative rigor.
Harvard’s Shorenstein Center honored Mayer’s post-9/11 reporting, particularly her exposure of enhanced interrogation’s legal dubiousness. The jury noted her "rare ability to make complex legal arguments accessible to general audiences."
Jane Mayer sheds light on Donald Trump’s “wheeling and dealing” with oil magnates to raise a billion dollars for his Presidential campaign
The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals
Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right
At PressContact, we aim to help you discover the most relevant journalists for your PR efforts. If you're looking to pitch to more journalists who write on Politics, here are some other real estate journalist profiles you may find relevant:
