Meet Our New Reporting Fellows from Connecticut and Missouri

We’re expanding our coverage of the people and places tied up in weapons spending with reporting fellows focused on arms plants like Electric Boat in Groton + Boeing in St. Louis. Plus: Giving Tuesday

Hi,

Over the years that I’ve been doing this beat, field reporter for the military-industrial complex, I’ve been approached frequently by other journalists, watchdogs and muckrakers who want to do similar work. I’m thrilled now that we’re bringing two new fellows onto this beat — Nell Srinath, who will be reporting from Connecticut, and Sophie Hurwitz, who’s from St. Louis and will report both from Missouri and New York City. I asked them to record short videos for our readers about who they are and why they’re eager to dive into the people and places tied up in the United States’ soon-to-be $1 trillion defense budget.

We’re able to kick off this fellowship because of support from readers. We’d love if you consider a tax-deductible gift to Inkstick today. And there’s a great bonus — this year, we’re a part of Newsmatch from the Institute for Nonprofit News, which will double your contribution and allow us to do even more of this unique-value reporting.

​​Nell Srinath (they/she) is a Connecticut-based independent journalist and a reporting fellow for Inkstick Media. Nell studied political science and journalism at the University of Connecticut and worked for The Progressive as an editorial intern. Nell has published analysis and reporting with The Progressive and CT Public. Over the next year, Nell hopes to comprehensively explore how the economy, politics, and culture of their small state mold around Connecticut’s dominant military contractors. Say hello and send story ideas to nsrinath@inkstickmedia.com.

Sophie Hurwitz is a reporter and fact-checker working from St. Louis and New York City. Previously, Sophie covered education and the criminal-legal system for the St. Louis American, and worked as a fact-checker for New York magazine. This year, Sophie hopes to follow the ways defense contractors — and the antiwar social movements they often come into conflict with — are shaping their hometown and beyond. Outside of Inkstick, they are currently a fellow at Mother Jones. Say hello and send story ideas to shurwitz@inkstickmedia.com.

I’m also really proud and appreciative of the advisory board we’ve formed to guide our fellows. They include Miriam Pemberton, an associate fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies and the author of “Six Stops on the National Security Tour: Rethinking Warfare Economies”; Bill Hartung, a senior researcher at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft and the author of a remarkable book charting the history of Lockheed Martin; Alicia Inez Guzmán, an investigative reporter covering Los Alamos for Searchlight New Mexico; Christian Sorensen, a researcher focused on the corporations profiting from war and a senior fellow at the Eisenhower Media Network (readers may remember his map suppressed by Google); Nina Berman, a documentary photographer, filmmaker and professor at Columbia University; Michael Brenes, co-director of the Brady-Johnson Program in Grand Strategy and lecturer in history at Yale University and a longstanding champion of this journalistic beat; and Jennifer Greenburg, an assistant professor of international relations at the University of Sheffield and contributing researcher at the Costs of War Project at Brown University — Jenny and I have pounded a lot of pavement around Marietta, Georgia, for her ongoing study about public opinion on military spending.

With Dr. Greenburg in Marietta after focus groups with old-timers at the Machinists union – many thanks to the workers who shared their stories about Lockheed Martin.

Giving Tuesday + Newsmatch

Expect to see Srinath’s and Hurwitz’s reporting highlighted in this newsletter over the coming year alongside my own. And if you’d like to support their work, we’re part of Newsmatch for the rest of the year — all donations to Inkstick are doubled by the Institute for Nonprofit News through the end of the year.

What makes us different from the rest of the national security press? Well, we are a nonprofit that, as a matter of policy, refuses any funding from defense contractors that could color our views — a big rarity on this beat where, for example, mainstream outlets are chock full of ads for Lockheed Martin. It’s Giving Tuesday today, and we’re grateful for your readership and any support you can offer us as a nonprofit.