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NEW YORK (AP) — Shortly after becoming Wired’s global editorial director in 2023, Katie Drummond acted on an early-morning idea. With a presidential election coming, the tech-focused news outlet needed a team to report on technology’s intersection with politics.
She couldn’t have predicted how much the decision would pay off.
Wired has attracted broad attention for its aggressive coverage of the Trump administration, particularly Elon Musk’s efforts at reducing federal employment. It has identified and traced the backgrounds of Musk’s young team and how they are burrowing their way into government operations.
“I think we were very well positioned to jump on that coverage,” Drummond said.
Wired has written about a 25-year-old engineer, Marko Elez, and his access to the sprawling Treasury Department systems that make government payments. Its stories about 19-year-old Edward Coristine, nicknamed “Big Balls,” included one about how he’s on staff at a federal cybersecurity agency.
In a hard-hitting piece this week, Brian Barrett outlined a week’s worth of mistakes by the young government efficiency team, including being forced to hire back employees belatedly deemed critical and claiming $8 billion in savings on a project when it was actually $8 million. Barrett wrote: “Elon Musk is the undisputed champion of making money for Elon Musk. As effectively the CEO of the United States of America? Very bad. Embarrassing, honestly.”
The Outlet’s Coverage Has Paid Off With New Subscribers
Wired gained 62,500 new subscribers in the United States during the first two weeks of February alone. Last year it reported a total of 19.5 million