List of Texas Observer Journalists and Reporters

1. Michelle Pitcher

Designation Staff Writer Author Bio Michelle Pitcher is a staff writer at the Texas Observer, covering criminal justice, housing, and education. She received her master’s in journalism from the University of California, Berkeley and was part of the team at The Marshall Project that won the Pulitzer Prize for national reporting. Her reporting has been featured on NPR, FiveThirtyEight, The Dallas Morning News, and more. Michelle was born and raised in Dallas and is now based in Austin.
Gender Female Author Profile texasobserver.org Twitter @michellepitcher (1.1K Followers) LinkedIn Profile Link Get Email Contact

2. Dylan Baddour

Author Bio Dylan Baddour covers the energy sector and environmental justice in Texas for Inside Climate News. Born in Houston, he’s worked the business desk at the Houston Chronicle, covered the U.S.-Mexico border for international outlets and reported for several years from Colombia for media like The Washington Post, BBC News and The Atlantic. He also spent two years investigating armed groups in Latin America for the global security department at Facebook before returning to Texas journalism. Baddour holds bachelor’s degrees in journalism and Latin American studies from the University of T...exas at Austin. He has lived in Argentina, Kazakhstan and Colombia and speaks fluent Spanish.more
Gender Male Author Profile texasobserver.org Twitter @dylanbaddour (11K Followers) LinkedIn Profile Link Get Email Contact

3. Steven Monacelli

Author Bio Steven Monacelli is a freelance investigative journalist in Dallas. His reporting has been featured in Rolling Stone, The Daily Beast, The Real News, Dallas Observer, Dallas Weekly, and more. He is also the publisher of Protean Magazine, a nonprofit literary publication.
Gender Male Author Profile texasobserver.org Twitter @stevanzetti (78.9K Followers) LinkedIn Profile Link Instagram @stevanzetti YouTube Channel link Get Email Contact

4. Kit O'Connell

Designation Journalist Author Bio Kit O’Connell is a genderqueer movement journalist, and former digital editor at the Texas Observer, who has lived in Texas since 1998. Their citizen journalism during Occupy Wall Street led to Kit becoming an editor at the formative political blog Firedoglake, where they broke the story of Occupy Austin’s infiltration by six undercover Austin police officers who entrapped activists into felony charges. Later, Kit spent four years writing about the hemp and cannabis industry as an editor at Ministry of Hemp and correspondent for Hemp magazine, where they influenced federal policy i...nto giving Western hemp farmers access to water rights and allowing some people with drug convictions to re-enter the industry. Their journalism has also appeared in Truthout, Yes! Magazine, and the Austin Chronicle, among others.more
Gender Male Author Profile texasobserver.org Twitter @kitoconnell (10.9K Followers) LinkedIn Profile Link Get Email Contact

5. Lise Olsen

Designation Senior Reporter & Editor Author Bio Lise Olsen is a Houston-based investigations editor at the Texas Observer. Lise has investigated many twisted Texas tales, including crooked judges, an unjust execution, massive environmental disasters, myriad cases of corporate and public corruption, and unsolved serial killings. Her reports in three states over 20 years contributed to the prosecutions of a former congressman and a federal judge, inspired laws and reforms, helped solve cold cases, restored names to unidentified murder victims, and freed dozens of wrongfully-held prisoners. Her work is featured in CNN's “The Wr...ong Man” (2015) about the innocence claims of executed offender Ruben Cantu and the six-part A&E series on the victims of a 1970s serial killer, The Eleven (2017). She is the author of Code of Silence: Sexual Misconduct by Federal Judges, the Secret System that Protects Them and the Women who Blew the Whistle.more
Gender Female Author Profile texasobserver.org Phone Number yes Twitter @lisedigger (6.1K Followers) LinkedIn Profile Link Get Email Contact

6. Gus Bova

Designation Interim Editor-in-chief Author Bio Gus Bova is the interim editor-in-chief of the Texas Observer. In 2016, he joined the Observer as an intern, later becoming a staff writer and an assistant editor. He's covered immigration, homelessness, labor, politics, and other major Texas stories. Before coming to the Observer, he worked at a shelter for recently arrived immigrants and asylum-seekers. He studied Latin American Studies at the University of Kansas.
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7. Ben Sargent

Designation Cartoonist Author Bio Ben Sargent is the Texas Observer's longtime cartoonist. He launched his career drawing editorial cartoons for the Austin American-Statesman in 1974. He was born in Amarillo into a newspaper family and learned the printing trade from age 12 and started working for the local daily as a proof runner at 14. He attended Amarillo College and received a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Texas at Austin in 1970. Sargent won the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning in 1982. He has also received awards from Women in Communications, Inc., Common Cause of Texas, and Cox Newspapers.... He is the author of Texas Statehouse Blues (1980) and Big Brother Blues (1984).more
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8. Justin Miller

Designation Reporter Author Bio Justin Miller covers politics and state government for the Texas Observer. He previously worked for The American Prospect magazine in Washington, D.C., and has also written for The Intercept, The New Republic, and In These Times. Originally from the Twin Cities, he received a journalism degree from the University of Minnesota.
Gender Male Author Profile texasobserver.org Phone Number yes Twitter @by_jmiller (4.3K Followers) LinkedIn Profile Link Get Email Contact

9. Gabriel Arana

Designation Editor-in-Chief Author Bio Editor-in-chief @TexasObserver, contributing editor @TheProspect; formerly @them, @Mic, @HuffingtonPost, @Salon, @TheNation ✍️????️‍????????????~????????
Twitter @gabrielarana Get Email Contact

10. Ignacio Martinez

Designation Writer Author Bio words in @TexasObserver & @dailydot; the old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born: now is the time of monsters
Twitter @NacioMartinez Get Email Contact

11. Ivan Flores

Designation Creative Director Author Bio creative director @texasobserver occasional baker, cloud aficionado and slow runner
Twitter @ivanflr Get Email Contact

12. Leah Caldwell

Designation Contributor Get Email Contact

13. Michael Agresta

Designation Writer-at-Large Author Bio Writer @TexasMonthly, @TexasObserver, Slate, Atlantic, Wired, T+L, WSJ. Teacher @StanfordCSP. I read, much of the night, and go north in the summer.
Twitter @magresta Get Email Contact

14. Michael Schrantz

Designation Audience Development Manager Get Email Contact

15. Nancy Nusser

Designation Freelance Writer Author Bio Managing Editor Texas Observer; stable hand; dog walker
Twitter @NancyNusser6 Get Email Contact