When Donald Trump retook office last January, many national newsrooms braced for what lay ahead. There was the expected firehose of news, with the president issuing dozens of executive orders in his first week alone. Then there was the fear and tension over the president’s history of attacking and suing news organizations over unfavorable coverage. Meanwhile, audience trust in media was at an all-time low.
While it was a turbulent time for traditional media, it opened a window for independent journalists like Marisa Kabas, who is not beholden to covering Trump’s every move, nor saddled with decades of institutional distrust. On 27 January, she received a massive scoop she published in her newsletter, the Handbasket: the US office of management and budget was freezing federal grants. Getting to that news first only led to more exclusives and subscribers.
