The Marshall Project is happy to announce that Aaron Sankin is joining the organization as our new Deputy Data Editor.
Sankin has a passion for ambitious, team-based investigations combining rigorous data analysis and statistical methods with in-depth reporting. He will bring those skills to reporting on the U.S. criminal justice system, supporting the work of data team members Ilica Mahajan and Geoff Hing, and working closely with Data Editor David Eads.
Prior to joining The Marshall Project, Sankin was an investigative reporter for The Markup, where he won the Edward R. Murrow Award for his reporting on predictive policing, the Investigative Reporters & Editors Philip Meyer Award for an investigation into racial and socioeconomic disparities in internet service pricing, and the Gerald Loeb Award for an innovative online privacy inspection tool.
Sankin has a long history as a reporter and editor. He was a founding editor of Huffington Post’s San Francisco vertical and a senior staff writer for The Daily Dot, where he covered the intersection of online communities and technology policy. As a reporter at the Center for Investigative Reporting, Sankin experimented with new ways of covering the growing dangers of online extremism, launching a weekly newsletter and a citizen journalism initiative on the topic.
“One of the data team’s sayings is ‘no solo bylines’ because we believe today’s journalism is driven by teams of reporters with diverse skills,” said David Eads. “From running community data projects to using computational methods to see the big picture, Aaron’s experience reveals the same ambitious, collaborative spirit that we aspire to and will be critical in covering one of the toughest data beats out there.”
“The criminal justice system dramatically impacts the lives of so many Americans every single day and yet, in many ways, its inner workings remain inscrutable,” said Sankin. “I’m thrilled to be joining the extremely talented team of journalists at The Marshall Project, who are working tirelessly to shine a light into its darkest corners.”
“Aaron’s track record of meticulous, high-impact journalism is exactly what we strive for here,” said Geraldine Sealey, managing editor of The Marshall Project. “We’re so delighted that Aaron is joining our team.”
Sankin lives in New York and starts August 19th.
