SAM EIFLING
Brooklyn, NY
WRITER, EDITOR, PRODUCER, HOST
Print | Digital | Television | Radio
Award-winning independent journalist with 15+ years’ experience gathering facts, developing writers, managing projects, shaping investigations, and telling original stories across new media.
● Print: The New Republic, Sports Illustrated, Oxford American, ESPN The Magazine, Grantland, Pacific Standard, Victory Journal, New Times, Associated Press, Arkansas Times, Lexington Herald-Leader, Miami Herald, Chicago Tribune, Florida Today
● Digital: Slate, Deadspin, Thrillist, Inverse, Politico, CJR.org, ESPN.com, Vice
● Broadcast: Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj, CBC Radio in Toronto, The New York Times, Audible
Professional Experience
Independent journalist + media entrepreneur, presently. Collaborator with the University of British Columbia’s Global Reporting Centre, completing the four-part podcast series “Trust Us,” about a tax haven document leak called Jersey Offshore, via the European Investigative Collaborations global network of media partners. Co-creator and co-host of an original, 8-hour Audible Original documentary podcast series called “Hold Fast: The Unadulterated Story of the World’s Most Scandalous Website.”
Producer, BRIBE INC. January 2020-March 2022. Research and production on an investigative feature film about the oil industry.
News Producer, Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj, New York. July 2018–December 2019. Lead researcher/reporter on Season 1 episodes of Netflix’s Peabody- and Emmy-winning news/comedy show. Led story building and fact-finding from concept through scripting and graphics, applying traditional hard-news reporting to swift, funny, visually innovative storytelling.
Travel Editor, Thrillist, New York. June 2016–July 2018. Managed worldwide freelancer network on monthly budget of $10,000. Built editorial strategy using SEO and social media best practices. Promoted to oversee coverage of NYC as well.
Deputy Editor, Inverse, New York. May 2015–March 2016. Managed and edited writers at a site covering science, news, and culture. Launched the site and helped guide strategy for the growth-focused startup through Series A.
Features Editor, ESPN Outdoors, Little Rock, Arkansas. 2007–2009. Reported and edited daily coverage and long-form features for ESPN.com on fishing, hunting, conservation, and rodeo. Won Southwestern Outdoor Press Association’s top award, the Excellence in Craft.
Staff Writer, New Times Broward-Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Florida. 2003–2006. Reported investigative narrative stories and profiles, chiefly about crime, culture and business, for Village Voice Media newsweekly. Won Society of Professional Journalists’ national Sigma Delta Chi award, for feature writing. Won SPJ’s award in the southeast, the Green Eyeshade, for sports writing.
Notable Contracts and Projects
Writer/editor on the guerrilla prank Washington Post edition the Yes Men made and printed that covered a hypothetical Trump resignation, under the slammer front-page headline UNPRESIDENTED. (2019)
Editing and writing for The New Republic online and in print as a contract editor. Duties included recruiting freelancers, developing features, and writing enterprise stories. (2015)
Pre-launch editorial director of the news startup and Gawker spinoff Ratter. Duties included acquiring stories, recruiting freelancers, and editing stories. (2014)
Traveled 4,000 miles through the American West embedded with professional rodeo cowboys for a nine-page enterprise feature in Sports Illustrated. (2014)
Covered a legislative session as a beat writer for the Associated Press in Honolulu. Broke a national story that led to Hawaii police no longer being able to legally have sex with prostitutes. For real. (2014)
Spent two months covering an Exxon pipeline oil spill for the Arkansas Times and InsideClimate News, via a successful crowdfunding campaign and a grant from the Fund for Investigative Journalism. (2013)
On-call associate producer for Metro Morning on CBC Radio in Toronto. (2013)
Internships
Editorial intern, Harper’s Magazine. Video desk, The New York Times. City desk, the Chicago Tribune and the Lexington Herald-Leader. Features desk, the Miami Herald. Sports desk, The Columbus Dispatch.
Education
Master’s in Journalism, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. 2012. Fellow in the International Reporting Program and in the Innocence Project. Earth & Ocean Sciences teaching assistant
Bachelor’s in Journalism, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois. 2001. Medill School of Journalism grad with Math and Statistics concentration Reporter and editor at The Daily Northwestern
Skills: Google software suite; Google Analytics; Adobe Lightroom and Audition; Audacity; Final Cut Pro; Canon DSLRs; light coding via various digital publishing platforms (Drupal, Kinja, Wordpress). Field production. Functional Spanish.