Intelligencer editor Jebediah Reed and New York editor-in-chief David Haskell today announced that Simon van Zuylen-Wood has joined as a features writer. Ankush Khardori and John Herrman were also announced as contributing editors.
“Covering American politics well today requires a strong grounding in the law, and our readers will be well served by Ankush’s clear-eyed, smart, and accessible legal analysis. Simon’s remarkable ability to report out and tell complex stories about the players and forces shaping our world represents one of the highest traditions of magazine journalism. And I have been a huge admirer of John’s work for years, and it’s incredibly exciting to have his expertise at Intelligencer and New York as a technology columnist. His well-developed insights on how tech shapes our politics and our lives have never been more vital,” says Reed.
“By bringing their considerable expertise to the magazine, these three outstanding journalists will strengthen our coverage of some of this era’s most challenging social issues. They’re also first-class writers, and I’m certain our readers will come to seek out their bylines,” says Haskell.
As a features writer across the magazine, Simon van Zuylen-Wood will cover major figures in politics, technology, business, and culture, both in New York City and nationally. Previously, he reported for New York as a freelancer, publishing features about QAnon, cryptocurrency, socialism, and other topics. He most recently profiled Jayquan McKenley as part of the magazine’s comprehensive exploration of drill in New York City.
In his role as contributing editor, Ankush Khardori will report more frequently on legal affairs with both a regular column and deeply reported features. He has already built a loyal audience of New York readers through the stories he’s published on Intelligencer to date, including reporting on Donald Trump’s legal issues, Merrick Garland and the Justice Department, prosecutors turned pundits, the January 6 hearings, and Twitter’s lawsuit against Elon Musk. Ankush, a former federal prosecutor and corporate lawyer, has written for The Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the Financial Times, The New Republic, and more.
In his role as contributing editor, John Herrman will cover technology, the tech industry, digital culture, and the ways all are combining to change us as individuals and as a society. He was most recently at the New York Times, where he served as a David Carr Fellow and reported on Twitter’s quest to become a platform for everyone and everything; Amazon’s many “pseudo brands”; and tried to answer the question of who’s watching your porch, with Amazon’s ring of surveillance. Previously, he was co-editor of The Awl and editor of BuzzFeed’s technology section. Early in his career, he was a writer and editor at Gizmodo and Popular Mechanics. John and Ankush will both contribute to other publications in addition to their work at New York.