The independent journalist who ‘scooped’ the U.S. national media from her apartment

Marisa Kabas breaks news independently, showcasing the rise of individual journalists in a changing media landscape.

First word of the Trump administration’s since-rescinded order to freeze spending on federal loans and grants came not from a major news organisation, but from a woman working alone in her Brooklyn apartment.

Marisa Kabas’s scoop this past week was a key moment for a growing cadre of journalists who work independently to gather and analyse news and market themselves as brands. Many are refugees from legacy outlets while others are scrappy newcomers like Ms. Kabas, who found traditional career paths unappealing or out of reach.

“This week has been career-changing,” Ms. Kabas said in an interview. “In a sense, my job has changed overnight.”

She was sitting at her kitchen table last Monday, sifting through emails on her laptop, when a source forwarded her a copy of a memo announcing the freeze sent by the Office of Management and Budget’s acting director.

Ms. Kabas has her own website, the Handbasket, but to give the story wider visibility, she posted a screen shot of the memo on the social media site Bluesky.

Then she waited.

Her stomach was in knots. She calmed herself with a walk on a frigid night. Despite her belief in independent journalism — and her own work — she recognised that to many, news only becomes “real” when it appears in a major outlet. Three hours later, The Washington Post published its story, with a hat-tip to Ms. Kabas.