Avatar

Aaron M. Kessler

Data Journalism and Investigations

Biography

Aaron Kessler is an award-winning journalist, teacher and project leader specializing in investigative reporting and data analysis at the intersection of business and politics.

He has nearly 20 years of experience as an investigative reporter, data journalist and newsroom innovator covering a range of complex government and business subjects including politics, health care, finance, technology, transportation, housing and education.

Aaron doubles as both a seasoned shoe-leather reporter and writer, as well as an industry-leading data practitioner and coder. He uses those combined skills to discover stories, uncover new knowledge and share the truth behind critical issues of public importance.

He’s especially a fan of R, though uses a wide range of data tools and programming strategies, and loves conceptualizing and building data-driven interactive experiences for news audiences.

Additionally, he’s led projects and initiatives to develop more innovative journalism workflows and to create tools aimed at harnessing the power of code within the newsroom.

Aaron’s a Certified Scrum Master who believes self-organized, empowered teams can fuel innovation not just in technology-driven settings but also for news reporting projects. He completed the elite Knight-Bagehot Fellowship in Business & Economics Journalism, a one year program of full-time MBA coursework at Columbia Business School for rigorous training in finance, management and leadership.

He’s also a longtime member of Investigative Reporters & Editors, for which he served on the board of directors and frequently speaks and leads training sessions. He also taught data journalism at The George Washington University for nearly 10 years.

Interests

  • Data Journalism
  • Investigative Reporting
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Interviewing/Writing
  • Scrum & Agile Workflows
  • Teaching/Training

Education

  • M.S. in Business & Economics Journalism

    Columbia Business School/Columbia School of Journalism

  • M.A. in Journalism

    University of Missouri

  • B.A. in Drama

    Washington University in St. Louis

Skills

R

Data Analysis

Writing

Investigations

Public Records/FOIA

Teaching

Geospatial/Mapping

Machine Learning

Scrum/Agile

SQL/Databases

Web Development

Python

Experience

 
 
 
 
 

Data/Investigative Journalist

The Associated Press

Feb 2022 – Present Washington, DC area
Responsibilities include:

  • Work as part of the AP’s national cross-functional data journalism team
  • Use data analysis and programming to produce stories of public importance
  • Report on a range of topics, including extremist groups, campaign finance, government spending fraud, disinformation campaigns, political trends and faulty military equipment
  • Collaborate with editors and reporters across the AP’s global bureaus
  • Embedded with the AP’s investigative team and DC politics team
  • Work jointly with newsroom developers and designers to create interactive experiences aimed at providing valuable insights to the public

 
 
 
 
 

Investigative Data Journalist

Bloomberg Industry Group

Jan 2020 – Feb 2022 Washington, DC area
Responsibilities include:

  • Conducted investigative reporting and data/geospatial analysis for stories involving federal agencies, Congress, Covid-19, elections, lobbying and government contracts
  • Developed innovative ways to tell data-driven stories through combinations of interactive, visual and narrative methods
  • Wrote software to analyze data and build reporting tools in reproducible ways
  • Collaborated with editors and reporters across departments/verticals at Bloomberg Industry Group, Bloomberg News and CityLab
  • Cultivated key sources within the political, regulatory and business worlds
  • Obtained agency documents, communications and data through FOIA/sourcing to investigate issues of public concern
  • Utilized Bloomberg’s vast troves of financial data to fuel enterprise reporting efforts throughout the organization
  • Conducted internal training sessions in data journalism and investigative techniques

 
 
 
 
 

Senior Producer, Investigations/Politics

CNN

Nov 2016 – Oct 2019 Washington, DC
Responsibilities included:

  • Reporting and analyzing data for investigative and enterprise projects throughout CNN, including environmental, health, judicial, immigration and politics efforts
  • Leading endeavors to use data analysis for innovative coverage of the 2018 and 2020 political campaigns
  • Mastering, synthesizing and analyzing campaign-related datasets, including Federal Election Commission records, Kantar/CMAG television ads, Facebook campaign ads, Twitter activities, US Census demographics, BLS and FRED economic indicators, public opinion polling, L2 national voter file and Catalist early voting data products
  • Developing data-driven stories on topics including corporate and government malfeasance, executive agency irregularities, campaign finance, political advertising, election security, opioid abuse, immigration and environmental policies
  • Coordinating data reporting efforts across beat teams and digital/TV divide to increase collaboration across traditional silos
  • Overseeing the successful development of the network’s first in-house federal campaign finance database, allowing for exclusive enterprise stories
  • Developing newsroom tools to aid in election coverage, including a presidential candidate travel tracker, generic ballot polling application, approval rating polling application, House district demographic profile project, Congressional vote/bill-sponsor analysis project, Trump financial disclosure interactive application and Trump fact-check application
  • Using digital forensics tools to report on multiple Trump administration officials, including a rolling investigation of former EPA administrator Scott Pruitt
  • Managing effort to utilize textual analysis and machine learning for ongoing reporting efforts, such as building and analyzing extensive document collections of federal agency email communications, Supreme Court nominee historical records and malicious Twitter activity by foreign actors
  • Leading in-house training sessions and mentoring colleagues on investigative and data journalism techniques

 
 
 
 
 

National Investigative Producer

Scripps Washington Bureau

Nov 2015 – Nov 2016 Washington, DC
Responsibilities included:

  • Conducting investigative reporting and data analysis for national stories out of the Scripps Washington bureau, including award-winning probes of corruption and illegal opioid prescriptions at a Veterans Administration facility
  • Responsibility for cultivating key sources within the DEA to report on illegal prescriptions by federal government official
  • Investigating and building a cross-border database of all physicians cited for medical misconduct in the U.S. and Canada that uncovered sexual abuses by doctors who then fled to another state, or to Canada, and kept practicing

 
 
 
 
 

Business/Automotive Writer

The New York Times

Jun 2014 – Nov 2015 Washington, DC
Responsibilities included:

  • Covering legislation, regulation and technology related to autos/transportation, and producing rolling investigations related to dangerous auto defects, faulty guardrails and other topics
  • Writing, developing sources and/or producing stories and original reporting scoops on a daily basis as a full-time contractor
  • Reporting on Congressional committees and executive agencies including NHTSA, EPA, FHWA, FCC and Treasury
  • Investigating faulty guardrails and exposing cover-ups related to their dangerous use on American highways
  • Breaking news and producing investigative/enterprise stories on auto safety, technology and environmental issues
  • Covering the six-week federal trial of former AIG chief Hank Greenberg, who sued the U.S. government over the 2008⁄2009 financial bailout
  • Shooting and producing video for the NYT’s website as well as its social platforms
 
 
 
 
 

Staff Writer

100Reporters

Nov 2011 – Jul 2013 Washington, DC
Responsibilities included:

  • Writing stories and conducting data analysis for projects related to domestic and international corruption
  • Investigating powerful K Street lobbyists who worked for abusive foreign dictators to whitewash their crimes and gain influence among members of Congress and executive officials
  • Reporting on Wall Street firm’s suspicious involvement with palm oil plantations in Cameroon

 
 
 
 
 

Business Reporter

Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Dec 2007 – Apr 2011 Sarasota, FL
Responsibilities included:

  • Covering residential real estate, including pricing trends, the mortgage crisis, white-collar crime and other issues related to the housing market’s collapse and subsequent attempt to recover
  • Breaking scoops and producing numerous investigative stories involving fraud and corruption, including contaminated Chinese drywall used to build thousands of U.S. homes, mortgage fraud schemes and real estate auction scams
  • Producing more than 100 stories over two years as part of a rolling investigation into Chinese drywall
  • Covering the federal multi-district litigation in New Orleans surrounding the defective drywall, and successfully developing sources among the attorneys and parties on both sides
  • Conceptualizing and collaborating on building out interactive, data-driven web experiences to accompany business stories

Projects

*
All Investigative Politics Health Justice Automotive

His country trained him to fight. Then he turned against it.

Investigation into extremists with military backgrounds, who make planned attacks more dangerous

The Great Grift

Data-driven investigation found fraudsters potentially stole more than $280 billion in COVID-19 relief funding

What’s Behind The Exodus of Black Americans From Northern Cities

Key Northeastern cities saw significant drops in their Black populations even as the U.S. becomes more diverse

Year Into Pandemic, an “Urban Shuffle” of Migration

A year after Covid-19 came to the U.S., the clearest picture yet is emerging about how people moved around the nation

Sturgis Biker Rally a Potential Covid Super-spreader

An analysis immediately after the biker rally determined the crowd’s origins and communities to which attendees would return

Covid-19 Cases Surge in 460 Counties Sturgis Riders Hailed From

Following the initial story, examined how communities with Sturgis attendees fared a month after the super-spreader event

Medicare spent $2B for one drug as manufacturer paid doctors millions

Investigation into how an extremely expensive drug designed for infant seizures was dubiously marketed to the elderly

Opioid industry payments to doctors (w/ video)

Investigation found doctors receiving more perks from opioid makers wrote more prescriptions for the drugs

Broward ballot discrepancies

Analysis of Broward County precinct-level voting patterns that found unusual number of skipped votes for Senate

Climate-change driven migration (w/ video)

Investigative project detailing how droughts are a key push factor in migrants from Honduras heading for the United States

Dem vs. GOP party committee donations

Analysis of FEC data to explore contributions to political party committees by donors’ zip code

The two Americas just lurched further apart

Analysis of 2018 midterm results and demographic data shows the key factors in how Democrats won the U.S. House

Trump financial interactive

Interactive data-driven project that aims to demystify Trump’s disclosed assets by connecting his interlocking companies

Medicare for all legislation

Have House Democrats lurched left? Not those from swing seats

Volkswagen emissions scandal

As Volkswagen Pushed to Be No. 1, Ambitions Fueled a Scandal

Deadly Guardrails (1)

One of numerous stories involving defctive guardrails that can fail on impact, and the regulatory failure to deal with it

Deadly Guardrails (2)

One of numerous stories involving the defective guardrails, this scoop involved a criminal case into the relationship between the …

Bad doctors who cross the border, keep practicing

Conducted analysis for investigation that revealed how doctors criss-cross the Canada-U.S. border while a broken system keeps secret …

Facebook troll ads

Analyzed Facebook ads to find how Russian trolls targeted Mexican-Americans after Trump election

Interior Dept Secret Meetings

Investigation into how Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke kept secret meetings off his public calendar

Obama bundlers’ 2020 contributions

Analysis identifying to which 2020 Democrats the elite Obama donors have contributed

Opana Investigation

How a drugmaker is set to profit from an opioid it said was unsafe

Scott Pruitt’s Secret Meetings (w/ Video)

Conducted textual/NLP analysis of tens of thousands of documents to identify instances of the EPA administrator’s secret meetings

Sexual misconduct by judges kept under wraps

Investigation into the stunning lack of transparency around federal judges’ misconduct

The Maria Generation

Investigation into the mental health toll on young people in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria

Trump’s judiciary and race

Analysis of how Trump’s judicial picks lack decades-long diversity drive

Who is @ten_gop?

Analysis of the nefarious @TEN_GOP Twitter account from Mueller’s Russia indictment

Dereliction of Duty Pt 1

Investigation into significant problems at the Cinncinati VA hospital, including senior leader prescribing opioids without a license

Dereliction of Duty Pt 2

Investigation into Cinncinati VA hospital found dirty and unsterile surgical instruments arriving in operating rooms

Fault lines between the parties

Why Republicans and Democrats aren’t talking to each other in Washington

Russian Twitter Trolls

What Twitter’s massive data dump reveals about Russian trolls

Stacey Abrams Governor Race

How Stacey Abrams’ upended conventional political wisdom in Georgia, including winning a county once notoriously known for being …

Wider affect of school shootings

More than 800,000 students live in school districts where shootings have happened

Confusion Reigns in Takata Airbag Recall

Automakers were still sorting out which cars needed to be included in the expanded recall, leaving many consumers bewildered

Hands-Free Cars Take Wheel, and Law Isn’t Stopping Them

Semi-autonomous technology has sprinted ahead so fast that lawmakers and regulators are scrambling to catch up

Trump vs. Obama on deportations

Trump’s plan to deport criminals won’t be easy. Just ask Obama

No Vote Incenses Lawmakers Seeking Auto Safety Reforms

The push to impose criminal penalties on auto executives who fail to disclose deadly automobile defects hit another roadblock

Honda Expands Airbag Recall Nationwide as Takata Resists

Even as Takata continued to resist demands to recall its airbags nationwide, Honda said it would take that action on its own

Wall Street bankrolls ex-executive as he sues over AIG bailout

Six years after the government saved Wall Street from the brink of collapse, the lawsuit came to trial, reopening one of the ugliest …

AIG trial puts Geithner, and his book, on hot seat

There were moments during the AIG trial when Geithner, the former Treasury secretary, may have thought he was still on his book tour

Connected Car Security

The Web-connected car is cool, until hackers cut your brakes

EPA Proposal Will Put Bigger Trucks on a Fuel Diet

Story examining the EPA’s proposed regulations to cut greenhouse gas emissions from heavy-duty trucks

Google and Apple Fight for the Car Dashboard

Two of the world’s tech giants are battling to develop the next generation of phone-connected dashboard features

Chinese Drywall - Second Year

Stories from year two of a two-year investigation into contaminated Chinese-made drywall used in thousands of homes

Chinese Drywall - First Year

Stories from year one of a two-year investigation into contaminated Chinese-made drywall used in thousands of homes

Accomplish­ments

Honors/Awards and Certifications

Certified Scrum Master (CSM)

Scrum Alliance 2019

National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Emmy Award

Winner, Investigative Series (regional) 2016
(One of three reporters with bylines on winning stories submitted)

Gerald Loeb Award for Distinguished Business and Financial Journalism

Finalist, Medium & Small Newspapers 2011

Gerald Loeb Award for Distinguished Business and Financial Journalism

Finalist, Online Enterprise 2011

Society of Environmental Journalists Kevin Carmody Award for Outstanding In-Depth Reporting

Winner 2011

Society of American Business Editors & Writers Best in Business Award

Winner, Investigative Reporting 2011

Florida Society of News Editors Award

Winner, Investigative Reporting 2011

Society of Professional Journalists Green Eyeshade Award for Southern-Based Reporters

Winner 2011

Nominee for the Pulitzer Prize

Nominated by ProPublica and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune 2011

Gerald Loeb Award for Distinguished Business and Financial Journalism

Finalist, Beat Writing 2010

Livingston Award for Young Journalists

Finalist 2010

Society of American Business Editors & Writers Best in Business Award

Winner, Enterprise Reporting 2010

Florida Society of News Editors Award

Winner, Explanatory Reporting 2010

Radio-Television News Director Association Edward R. Murrow Award

Winner, Best Radio Series (regional) 2004

Contact