Sarah Ellison: A Career Shaped by Media Power and Politics
Sarah Ellison has established herself as one of America’s foremost chroniclers of media’s intersection with power, politics, and culture. With a career spanning prestigious outlets like The Wall Street Journal, Vanity Fair, and The Washington Post, Ellison brings meticulous reporting and narrative depth to stories that reveal how media institutions shape—and are shaped by—broader societal forces.
Career Trajectory: From Newsrooms to Bestsellers
- Early Foundations (2000s): Began at Newsweek’s Paris bureau before joining The Wall Street Journal, where she covered European business and later documented Rupert Murdoch’s takeover of Dow Jones.
- Authorial Breakthrough (2010): Published War at the Wall Street Journal, a definitive account of Murdoch’s acquisition that The New York Times called “cinematic.”
- Cultural Commentary (2010–2017): As Vanity Fair’s special correspondent, dissected media’s role in politics through profiles of figures like Jared Kushner and Megyn Kelly.
- Washington Post Era (2018–Present): Transitioned to analyzing media’s evolving role in democracy, focusing on press freedom battles and political manipulation of information ecosystems.
Key Articles and Impact
- Federal Judge in New York Says VOA Journalists Get Jobs Back for Now (The Washington Post, March 2025) This urgent dispatch detailed a federal judge’s temporary block of the Trump administration’s attempt to shutter Voice of America. Ellison wove legal analysis with human stories of journalists fighting to preserve the outlet’s mission of delivering uncensored news to global audiences. By contextualizing the case within broader attacks on press freedom, the piece underscored the fragility of independent journalism in polarized times. Her sourcing—including exclusive interviews with VOA staffers under threat—demonstrated her ability to navigate high-stakes media-political conflicts.
- Weeks Before Trump Called for Impeachment, Online Influencers Seeded Campaign Against Judge (The Washington Post, April 2025) Ellison and co-author Clara Ence Morse exposed how pro-Trump networks orchestrated a smear campaign against a federal judge who ruled against administration policies. The article traced meme wars, coordinated hashtag attacks, and talking points distributed to conservative media—a blueprint for weaponizing digital platforms against judicial independence. This investigative deep dive showcased Ellison’s knack for mapping connections between online rhetoric and real-world political strategy.
- Rupert Murdoch in Secret Family Battle to Keep Fox News Conservative (Vanity Fair, 2023) Returning to her Murdoch beat, Ellison revealed internal family tensions over Fox News’ ideological direction as the network grappled with post-Trump relevance. Through anonymous executive accounts and financial analysis, she illustrated how legacy media empires balance profit motives with political kingmaking. The piece exemplified her signature approach: treating media moguls as both business operators and cultural architects.
Beat Analysis and Pitching Guidance
1. Focus on Institutional Power Dynamics in Media
Ellison prioritizes stories that expose how media organizations navigate political pressures. A successful pitch might examine a news outlet’s internal debate over covering a polarizing figure, with documented examples of editorial tension. For instance, her VOA coverage [Article 1] benefited from whistleblowers who shared meeting transcripts showing administration interference.
2. Connect Digital Culture to Traditional Media
She’s particularly interested in how social media trends influence legacy outlets’ editorial decisions. The Trump-judge impeachment story [Article 2] succeeded because it mapped how online campaigns directly shaped cable news coverage. Pitches should demonstrate clear causation between digital rhetoric and traditional reporting shifts.
3. Profile Decision-Makers, Not Just Personalities
While Ellison occasionally profiles media figures, she emphasizes their professional impact over personal drama. Her Murdoch coverage [Article 3] focused on corporate strategy rather than tabloid-worthy family feuds. Pitches about executives or editors should highlight their institutional influence, not just biographical details.
Pitching Tips
- Provide documents showing editorial interference (e.g., leaked memos, meeting notes)
- Highlight crossover between online movements and mainstream coverage
- Identify undercovered power brokers in media mergers/acquisitions
- Avoid celebrity-driven angles without policy implications
- Use FOIA-obtained materials to expose government-media tensions
Awards and Achievements
Front Page Award (2017)
The Newswomen’s Club of New York honored Ellison for her Vanity Fair blog The Hive, recognizing her pioneering work in blending political analysis with media criticism. This award, historically given to hard-news reporters, signaled a shift toward valuing meta-journalism—reporting about the press itself.
Mirror Award for In-Depth Reporting (2015)
Ellison shared this Syracuse University honor for “The Snowden Saga: A Shadowland of Secrets and Light,” which dissected how journalists handled classified NSA leaks. The judges praised her “unflinching examination of journalism’s dual role as watchdog and inadvertent accomplice.”
