My reporting and data analysis seek to uncover information that would otherwise be hidden. I spent nearly two years in 2020-21 reporting with my colleagues on policing in America. The series we produced, which included stories about the power of police unions, fatal traffic stops and deaths in police custody, won the Pulitzer Prize in national reporting.
I gravitate toward topics that highlight people’s personal stories within the context of larger national or international issues. In 2019, I traveled to speak in person with young survivors of abuse for a series of stories that revealed the failure of technology companies and the U.S. government to curtail the online spread of child sexual abuse imagery. One of the main goals of my work is to elevate the voices of those who haven’t been heard.
I have been a journalist for about 15 years and have covered issues ranging from politics to the environment. While working my first newsroom jobs, I learned the then-novel skills of data visualization and computer programming. I found that careful data analysis could uncover things such as which misspelled words Apple’s iPhone refuses to correct, or how the flood maps that guide development and insurance markets in communities around the country are often outdated and unreliable. The first pieces I worked on at The Times examined the online market for manipulating YouTube view counts and the business of selling people’s location data, a practice that can reveal personal details about millions of Americans.
I think that access to high-quality information is key to a functioning society. I publish free software tools that make it easier for others to analyze and visualize data and I write guides to help people use these tools to conduct their own work. I also teach at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, where I was previously a student and research fellow. I grew up in California and graduated from Georgetown University with a degree in psychology and comparative literature.
Being fair and honest to people I interview or write about is a key value for me. The Times has an extensive set of ethical standards that inform every story I write. I often interview dozens of people for a single article to make sure I’ve heard as many perspectives as possible. I know that people I speak with trust me to reflect their point of view accurately and fairly. I take that responsibility seriously. I don’t participate in any political events or invest in individual stocks, and I make a personal choice not to belong to a political party.
When people agree to be interviewed on sensitive topics, they sometimes trust me with their safety. I go to great technical and personal lengths to ensure their security.
I welcome feedback (positive or negative) about anything I’ve written, as well as tips on ideas you think I should pursue. If you send a tip through The Times’s anonymous tip line, include my name and it will go directly to me.
Email: [email protected]
X: @mhkeller
LinkedIn: Michael H. Keller
Anonymous tips: nytimes.com/tips
Advertisers of merchandise for young girls find that adult men can become their unintended audience. In a test ad, convicted sex offenders inquired about a child model.
By Michael H. Keller and Jennifer Valentino-DeVries
Prominent Republicans have seized on campus protests to assail what they say is antisemitism on the left. But for years they have mainstreamed anti-Jewish rhetoric.
By Karen Yourish, Danielle Ivory, Jennifer Valentino-DeVries and Alex Lemonides
New Mexico’s attorney general has accused Meta of not protecting children from sexual predators on its platforms. He now wants to know how it polices subscribers to accounts featuring children.
By Michael H. Keller and Jennifer Valentino-DeVries
Seeking social media stardom for their underage daughters, mothers post images of them on Instagram. The accounts draw men sexually attracted to children, and they sometimes pay to see more.
By Jennifer Valentino-DeVries, Michael H. Keller, Rebecca Suner, James Surdam and Rumsey Taylor
Mothers are running Instagram accounts for underage girls aspiring to stardom. Many encounter a dark underworld dominated by men, including pedophiles.
By Jennifer Valentino-DeVries and Michael H. Keller
Seeking social media stardom for their underage daughters, mothers post images of them on Instagram. The accounts draw men sexually attracted to children, and they sometimes pay to see more.
By Jennifer Valentino-DeVries and Michael H. Keller
Senators criticized the chief executives of Meta, TikTok, Snap, X and Discord for not doing enough to prevent child sexual abuse online, amid rising fears over how the platforms affect youths.
By Cecilia Kang and David McCabe
This was featured in live coverage.
By Kate Conger
This was featured in live coverage.
By Michael H. Keller
The move is part of an effort to make the app more like WhatsApp and iMessage. Law enforcement authorities say the privacy makes it harder to track criminals.
By Mike Isaac and Michael H. Keller
Unlike many elite colleges, most flagship public colleges are “pretty fair in who gets in.”
By Aatish Bhatia and Claire Cain Miller
Arriving in record numbers, they’re ending up in dangerous jobs that violate child labor laws — including in factories that make products for well-known brands like Cheetos and Fruit of the Loom.
By Hannah Dreier and Kirsten Luce
Child sexual abuse imagery spreads on Twitter even after the company is notified: One video drew 120,000 views. “Sewer rats,” as one regulator described bad actors, remain.
By Michael H. Keller and Kate Conger
Residents say the street crime unit was an intimidating and sometimes violent presence in the city. Five Scorpion officers are charged with murdering Tyre Nichols during an arrest.
By Steve Eder, Matthew Rosenberg, Joseph Goldstein, Mike Baker, Kassie Bracken and Mark Walker
To rise through the Trump-era G.O.P., a young congresswoman gave up her friends, her mentors and her ideals. Will it be enough?
By Nicholas Confessore
A majority of House Republicans challenged Donald J. Trump’s defeat. Here is what we learned about the effort and its aftermath.
By Steve Eder, David D. Kirkpatrick, Jennifer Valentino-DeVries and Michael H. Keller
The white majority is fading, the economy is changing and there’s a pervasive sense of loss in districts where Republicans fought the outcome of the 2020 election.
By Michael H. Keller and David D. Kirkpatrick
This was featured in live coverage.
By Michael H. Keller and David D. Kirkpatrick
The white majority is fading, the economy is changing and there’s a pervasive sense of loss in districts where Republicans fought the outcome of the 2020 election.
By Michael H. Keller and David D. Kirkpatrick
The company reports millions of photos and videos of suspected child sexual abuse each year. But when ages are unclear, young people are treated as adults and the images are not reported to the authorities.
By Michael H. Keller
A close look at donor data — from crowdfunding campaigns to Bitcoin fund-raisers — reveals a cross-border mix of motives in support of the Canada convoy.
By Mike McIntire and Michael H. Keller
Inside the self-reinforcing ecosystem of people who advise, train and defend officers. Many accuse them of slanting science and perpetuating aggressive tactics.
By Jennifer Valentino-DeVries, Mike McIntire, Rebecca R. Ruiz, Julie Tate and Michael H. Keller
Busted taillights, missing plates, tinted windows: Across the U.S., ticket revenue funds towns — and the police responsible for finding violations.
By Mike McIntire and Michael H. Keller
My colleagues and I published an investigation into police traffic stops: how and why they escalate into violence, and the financial incentives fueling it all.
By Michael H. Keller, Steve Eder, David D. Kirkpatrick, Kim Barker, Julie Tate and Mike McIntire
A tiny number of doctors have had an outsize influence in spreading false information about Covid-19 and vaccines.
By Davey Alba and Sheera Frenkel
The changes, for later this year, raised concerns that the company is installing surveillance technology that governments could exploit.
By Jack Nicas
States have passed over 140 police oversight bills since the killing of George Floyd, increasing accountability and overhauling rules on the use of force. But the calls for change continue.
By Steve Eder, Michael H. Keller and Blacki Migliozzi
As officer perks and protections draw new scrutiny, an architect of longtime police bargaining tactics says unions are at risk of losing it all.
By Michael H. Keller and Kim Barker
The company’s ties to more than a dozen sites illustrate how conservative media companies are branching out after Facebook and Twitter began stiffer policing of false information.
By Davey Alba
As tips about online child sexual abuse have spiked, the F.B.I. is investigating the case of a Florida technology contractor who the bureau said shot two agents executing a search warrant at his apartment.
By Johnny Diaz, Patricia Mazzei, Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs and Michael H. Keller
Three other agents were injured in a shooting that occurred as agents were executing a search warrant in Sunrise, west of Fort Lauderdale. The man being investigated was found dead.
By Patricia Mazzei, Adam Goldman, Johnny Diaz and Christina Morales
Revenues for the Trump Organization fell nearly 38 percent in 2020 as the coronavirus took a steep toll on the hospitality industry. Mar-a-Lago was a bright spot.
By Ben Protess, Steve Eder and Michael H. Keller
In the chaos of 1960s Detroit, a fledgling police union laid the groundwork for a system that, to this day, constrains discipline for officers accused of misconduct.
By Kim Barker, Michael H. Keller and Steve Eder
In 2019, the Trump Organization showed improvement over the previous year. But the company’s minimum reported revenues still fell short of the president’s first year in office, his new financial disclosure shows.
By Ben Protess, Steve Eder and Michael H. Keller
In corners of the U.S. facing financial ruin, but where the coronavirus hasn’t arrived in full, an analysis of economic and infection data helps explain why some see reopening as long overdue.
By Michael H. Keller, Steve Eder and Karl Russell
Prescriptions soared after the president began promoting two antimalarial drugs to treat coronavirus infections. Nothing of the sort happened when he later announced he was taking one of them.
By Ellen Gabler and Michael H. Keller
New legislation would try to curb the illegal imagery with record levels of funding for law enforcement. The bill, coming in response to a Times investigation, also calls for a new oversight position in the White House.
By Michael H. Keller
Prescriptions for two antimalarial drugs jumped by 46 times the average when the president promoted them on TV. There’s no proof they work against Covid-19.
By Ellen Gabler and Michael H. Keller
There were 1,300 direct flights to 17 cities before President Trump’s travel restrictions. Since then, nearly 40,000 Americans and other authorized travelers have made the trip, some this past week and many with spotty screening.
By Steve Eder, Henry Fountain, Michael H. Keller, Muyi Xiao and Alexandra Stevenson
New e-commerce sites using a popular technology company’s services are filled with wildly exaggerated claims about coronavirus-fighting products that may not even exist.
By Michael H. Keller and Taylor Lorenz
Hundreds of e-commerce sites are popping up daily to sell virus-fighting products. Many are being shut down for making exaggerated claims or selling phantom products.
By Michael H. Keller and Taylor Lorenz
Bipartisan legislation would take the extraordinary step of removing legal protections for tech companies that fail to police the illegal content.
By Michael H. Keller
Answering your questions about our series on online child abuse.
By Michael Barbaro, Michael H. Keller and Gabriel J.X. Dance
In a first, videos outnumbered photos in reports to the authorities last year. Facebook found the most imagery, the bulk of it on its Messenger app.
By Gabriel J.X. Dance and Michael H. Keller
Several websites popular with sexual predators were thwarted last month after a determined campaign by groups dedicated to eliminating the content. It was a rare victory in an unending war.
By Gabriel J.X. Dance
The legislation, responding to an investigation in The New York Times, would make tech companies more responsible for retaining data about abuse.
By Michael H. Keller
Don’t count on tech companies to keep online games and chat apps safe for children, experts warn. It’s all about “parental empowerment” and imposing limits.
By Michael H. Keller
Criminals are making virtual connections with children through gaming and social media platforms. One popular site warns visitors, “Please be careful.”
By Nellie Bowles and Michael H. Keller
Tech companies are deploying artificial intelligence to detect new photos and videos. But such efforts may run afoul of the law.
By Gabriel J.X. Dance and Michael H. Keller
Two sisters talk candidly about their lives after being sexually abused as children. It has been 10 years, but online photos and videos continue to haunt them.
By Michael H. Keller and Gabriel J.X. Dance
