no-bullshit journalist / pro-nonsense human

I’m a veteran reporter, editor, writer, and producer obsessed with creating great work and getting the best out of the people I work with. Find me killing time on Twitter @sameifling, or hit me up at sameifling at gmail.

writing / reporting

Selections from the stacks. I’ve written for the New Republic, Sports Illustrated, Mother Jones, Slate, the Oxford American, ESPN The Magazine, Grantland, Deadspin, Rest of World, Pacific Standard, The Tyee, Vice, Politico, CJR.org, Thrillist, New Times Broward-Palm Beach, the Associated Press, the Arkansas Times, the Lexington Herald-Leader, the Miami Herald, the Columbus Dispatch, the Chicago Tribune, Victory Journal, Florida Today, and other esteemed outlets living and deceased.

Also: awards. Mine include a Sigma Delta Chi for feature writing, a Green Eyeshade from the Society of Professional Journalists for sportswriting, a grant from the Fund for Investigative Journalism, and a big-ass sterling silver belt buckle presented to me at a banquet in Vegas by Miss Rodeo America.

 

news / investigations

A leaked memo from a tax haven asks, How would you like to move your money out of view of the IRS? (Mother Jones). Russian soldiers murdered Brent Renaud, who was a low-key American treasure (Arkansas Times). The decade-long odyssey of a random Argentine parade-goer became a pawn in Russia’s online flame war with Estonia (Rest of World). Hawaii police lobbied to keep legal permission to have sex with prostitutes (AP) until my story ran, and they were like, our bad, you can change that (AP). The state of Arkansas ignored people sickened when an Exxon oil pipeline burst in their neighborhood (Arkansas Times). Dammit, David Carr died (New Republic). Oh, look, it’s a “Gawker Toronto operative” with a picture of Rob Ford’s crackhouse (Gawker). On the bittersweet trail of a dead man on an overpass (New Times).

 

essays

Grantland’s launch was Bill Simmons at his most louche (CJR). Defining a quintessentially Arkansan food requires you to delve into poverty diets (Oxford American). Keys to enjoying wine: performing overwrought labels (Vinepair), biting paper bags (Vinepair), and ignoring Sideways (Vinepair). There is absolutely no feeling in the world as pure as throwing your miserable guts up (Deadspin). Muhammad Ali sacrificed himself for America’s soul (Victory Journal). Jesus would’ve made out with you at a party (Vice). We can’t measure the loss of photos no journalists are around to take (New Republic) but we can celebrate the dregs of our so-called print journalism careers (CJR). Surprise military reunions at sporting events make me think about my brothers getting blown up (Deadspin). John Daly’s pants (Deadspin).

politics / policy

How world-class performance by a Chinese AI called Qwen is obviating the U.S. chip embargo (Rest of World). Why video game shops are organized labor’s beachhead in white-collar tech (Politico). Cops in Arkansas had sex with prostitutes on busts (New Republic). The NYPD brandished weapons of war when protestors demonstrated against police shootings (New Republic). How claims of innocence lead prisons to hold innocent inmates for decades (The Tyee). Tracing the watersheds a faulty oil pipeline threatens as it crosses Arkansas (Arkansas Times). Tracking the invasive northern snakehead fish through the Delta (Pacific Standard). Ranting about political sycophancy (Deadspin). Visiting a supervised drug-injection facility in Vancouver (Pacific Standard). Venezuelan ex-pats in Canada went to heroic lengths to vote in 2012 (New Republic).

 

sports / games

In case of pandemic, move your music festival inside a video game (Experience). NFL teams compromise players’ health with “official” team doctors (Slate). Dammit, Allen Iverson retired (Deadspin). Boxer Johnny Tapia died, but only after dying four other times (Deadspin). Ex-fighter pilot Ted Williams once shot down aspiring Ted Williams fishing buddy Bobby Knight (Slate). Scrabble is an unofficial gatekeeper for English words at large (New Republic) even if it had to purge its most colorful words (Inverse); and by the way, here are the best letters in the game (Deadspin). The federals busted a roster of A number one nicknamed individuals when they broke up a gambling ring (Deadspin). What is San Antonio, anyway? (Deadspin). Behold Liverpool’s most beloved annual horse-croaking ritual (Deadspin).

adventures

Hunting icebergs in Newfoundland for vodka and the world’s purest water (Thrillist). Covering pro bass fishing borders on the surreal (Slate). Chasing sport fish in the Amazon is electrifying (New Times), as is driving 4,000 miles in 82 hours to hit six pro rodeos (Sports Illustrated). Inside the NHL’s most infamous dive bar (ESPN The Magazine) and Canada’s most superlative rodeo (Grantland). Hanging with Carlos Arredondo, who loved his boy so much he nearly burned himself to death (New Times); superhuman eater Joe LaRue (New Times); and anti-racist skinhead #1 Diablo (New Times). Roy Wood Jr knows every last highway exit in the American South (Thrillist).

 

film

I interviewed Isaac Chung about “Minari,” the best film about growing up in our rural county (Arkansas Times). Chernobyl was an A+ horror film (Arkansas Times), while Fifty Shades of Grey was an F+ romantic comedy (Arkansas Times). Vice explained how Dick Cheney became Darth Vader (Arkansas Times). An Estonian movie about citrus captured the reality of war (New Republic). Tommy Morrison should be an Arkansas folk hero (Arkansas Times) while John Daley unquestionably is (Arkansas Times). It Follows is about sex before the internet (New Republic). My summer book report on Baz Luhrmann’s Great Gatsby (Arkansas Times). The updated Halloween was a real film (Arkansas Times) and Uncut Gems was a real panic attack (Arkansas Times). I identified with Inside Llewyn Davis probably more than was strictly healthy (Arkansas Times).

 

audio production

Winning soundly. In 2020 Covid stymied a documentary film I was helping to produce. Instead, I made a podcast about a financial data leak from a shady trust company on the island of Jersey. That series became Trust Us: Inside the Jersey Offshore Investigation, a joint production with the Global Reporting Centre at the University of British Columbia that ran in 2023 as a series of four episodes of the podcast Bribe, Swindle or Steal.

TRUST US (Episode 1) (Episode 2) (Episode 3) (Episode 4)

In 2022 two partners and I inked a deal with Audible to create an 8-hour audio docuseries about New Times, Backpage.com, and the past 50 years of the alternative press. Titled HOLD FAST: THE UNADULTERATED STORY OF THE WORLD’S MOST SCANDALOUS WEBSITE, it finally landed on Audible in April of 2024, and you should absolutely go stream it: https://audible.com/holdfast

During the 2024 election cycle I’ve been writing and producing Season 4 of the podcast series Democracy Decoded, by the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center. Highly recommended to brush up on topics such as misinformation, voter intimidation, and post-Jan 6 reforms to the Electoral College. (Season 4)

Also in 2024 I’m producing and writing a special-topic series within Bribe, Swindle or Steal that focus on extreme wealth and greed. Our episodes each feature a single-guest interview: therapist-to-the-1% Clay Cockrell — Bernie Madoff whisperer Steve Fishman — tech-wealth memoirist Jen Risher — Vladimir Putin antagonist Bill Browder

editing / strategy

Hiring and molding. Like the best directing, good editing shouldn’t call attention to itself. I’ve enjoyed my full-time stints at Thrillist running a world-encompassing travel section with a small army of far-flung freelancers; at Inverse, helping to invent a tech and culture media startup; and at The New Republic, commissioning and editing the work of diverse first-time writers and National Magazine Award winners alike.

For instance, at Thrillist we launched a series of travel guides, sprawling packages, 15 stories apiece, connected by a landing page that served as a road map and microcosm of the guide. The scope gave me room to expand on Thrillist’s usual service journalism to commission essays on more subjective aspects of a city: gentrification, race, art, money, development, the struggle to belong.

"You never forget when Wynton Marsalis borrows your trumpet." -- L. Kasimu Harris

"You never forget when Wynton Marsalis borrows your trumpet." -- L. Kasimu Harris

"The bill, when it comes, will land like an anvil. It's so expensive! But, hey. It's also wonderful, perhaps perfect. Sometimes you just have to spend that money." -- Robert Andrew Powell

"The bill, when it comes, will land like an anvil. It's so expensive! But, hey. It's also wonderful, perhaps perfect. Sometimes you just have to spend that money." -- Robert Andrew Powell

"If you do manage to catch a native Portlander along the way, we’ll piss and moan about what the damn hipsters have done to our town. But secretly, we kind of dig it." -- Kashann Kilson

"If you do manage to catch a native Portlander along the way, we’ll piss and moan about what the damn hipsters have done to our town. But secretly, we kind of dig it." -- Kashann Kilson

"Where else can you see a Rembrandt in the morning, tan your naked butt in the afternoon, attend a lucha libre match at night, and slurp some of the best ramen of your life in a nondescript strip mall at 3am?" -- Maya Kroth

"Where else can you see a Rembrandt in the morning, tan your naked butt in the afternoon, attend a lucha libre match at night, and slurp some of the best ramen of your life in a nondescript strip mall at 3am?" -- Maya Kroth

"Is Austin -- a place where the black population is just 8% and declining -- what a progressive haven looks like to you?" -- Doyen Oyeniyi

"Is Austin -- a place where the black population is just 8% and declining -- what a progressive haven looks like to you?" -- Doyen Oyeniyi

"Whatever your thing might be, no matter how obscure or perverse, there are other people whose thing it also is, and they’re here in greater numbers than they will be anywhere else." -- Brandon K. Thorp

"Whatever your thing might be, no matter how obscure or perverse, there are other people whose thing it also is, and they’re here in greater numbers than they will be anywhere else." -- Brandon K. Thorp

television / film

Screen times. I’ve produced news narratives and interviews at Netflix’s Emmy- and Peabody-winning Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj and for the New York Times, which has yet to win anything in its life. Here’s my lil IMDB page.

Later in 2024, look for an investigative feature documentary called Bribe Inc. that I helped to produce. It’s about corruption in the oil industry, dirty money flows, and the harm that corruption leaves in its wake.

Possibly the angriest six weeks I’ve ever spent on a story came as we dissected the Trump administration’s abuse of migrants and asylum-seekers.

The idea here was simple: Scrutinize Canada’s human rights record as if it weren’t a progressive darling. Still can’t believe Trudeau was game.

Video game developers are among the most dumped-on white-collar workers. No wonder they’re making moves to unionize, a rarity for tech workers.

If Brazil keeps deforesting the Amazon, the biome could collapse entirely. This episode asks: How about we … not?

John Romita Jr. wrote the first post-9/11 Spider-Man comic, a catharsis he didn’t feel worthy of attempting.

Even before “Citizenfour” the filmmaker Laura Poitras was a target for American surveillance for her post-9/11 reporting.

In 2012 I reported for the Times from Brazil, for a video piece you can watch here. That led to an invitation to deliver a talk to an audience at the University of British Columbia about our project: an investigation of fatal land disputes between indigenous Brazilians and wealthy farmers.