Matt Dempsey
Investigations editor at Spotlight PA |Former IRE Board member |AZR|AJC|HoustonChron|Pulitzer Finalist| Mizzou alum
❤️ my wife Rachael and our kid Will
Profile pic courtesy @kenduque.bsky.social
- The best possible answer is Jason Manzukas.
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- Reposted by Matt DempseyWe found that Jeff Bezos paid *zero* taxes in 2007 and 2011. In fact, he reported making so little in 2011 that he even claimed and received a $4,000 tax credit for his children. This is how he did it (published 2021):
- Reposted by Matt DempseyWhile I have a lot of people's attention: As some of y'all know, I volunteer at a women's shelter in Brooklyn. Over the time I've been there, a lot of women have approached me about starting a knitting/crocheting group. The Big Barrier to this is that there is no money for supplies. (cont'd)
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- Reposted by Matt Dempseyagain we do not really do a good job of explaining how wealthy people like Jeff Bezos are his net worth is $253.2 billion. so he could take one million dollars, and just light it on fire and then do it again tomorrow and again the day after that and then do it every day for 693 years and 8 months
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- Today was really terrible in so many ways. But I got to watch a new episode of the Muppet Show and it was so darn delightful. They finally realized that the original premise was perfect as is. Just put on a silly chaotic episode with a game celebrity and the audience won't be able to stop grinning
- Reposted by Matt Dempseyjournalists are workers who deserve to be paid fairly for our labor and I think that far too few consumers of media recognize or even care about this fact
- He famously ran Amazon at a loss for years and years.
- Reposted by Matt Dempseyi know that this is an unpopular take, but everyone starting their own newsletter as a revenue stream is not a sustainable model for writing and reporting or for people who love and want to pay for media.
- Reposted by Matt DempseyWow, should probably fire the publisher responsible for missing out on the opportunities.
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- Reposted by Matt DempseyA staggering statement from former Washington Post editor Marty Baron: "This ranks among the darkest days in the history of one of the world's greatest news organizations."
- Reposted by Matt DempseyI really hate that media layoffs have been happening for the last three years, including my own, and most of the people responsible for the mismanagement won't experience any negative consequences, especially for decimating the number of people of color in so many American newsrooms.
- Reposted by Matt DempseyA note from our editors:
- Reposted by Matt DempseyI can’t stress this enough. The state of 4th Amendment law is that the cops can’t force you to type in a passcode but they can force you to swipe your finger or present your face. Never stop using passcodes/passwords to unlock your devices. And consider additional code to unlock Signal.
- The FBI was able to access Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson's Signal messages because she used Signal on her work laptop. The laptop accepted Touch ID for authentication, meaning the agents were allowed to require her to unlock it. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
- Reposted by Matt DempseyOne thing that makes you feel like you’re losing your grip on reality is constantly having to hear about the genius and brilliance of various Silicon Valley types while also reading headlines about how their businesses are losing sums of money so large that it’s almost impossible to comprehend
- Meta's Reality Labs metaverse-focused arm generated $2.2 billion in revenue for the 12 months ending December 31st, 2025, but clocked up a $19.2 billion operational loss. Since the division was set up in 2020, the company has lost $83.6 billion on Reality Labs www.gamesindustry.biz/metas-realit...
- Everyone's talking about the new Springsteen song but damn does Jesse Wells feel like this era's Dylan. Just some simple strums and some cutting words that get right at the heart of the moment
- Reposted by Matt DempseyThe City of Philadelphia has introduced legislation to limited ICE in the city. The Federal Agents can not be masked, must have ID visible, must have arrested warrants signed by federal judges. They can't attack people. If they can't do this, they will be arrested. youtu.be/i5Yvg_HHfbE?...
- Reposted by Matt DempseyIt’s not “self defense” it’s a tactic. It permits offensive action by police. ALTERNATIVELY federales are too stupid to get out from in front of vehicles. www.ms.now/news/federal...
- Reposted by Matt Dempsey"They say they're coming to save us from some evil? They're talking about our neighbors who take care of us ... Alex was murdered while he was helping. Mr Rogers said look for the helpers, & right now the helpers have a target on our forehead ... Mr Rogers would be here right now too, so I'm here."
- Reposted by Matt DempseyAlex Pretti "used to tell people off when they made sexist comments to female physicians. He bought me coffee when I had a really bad day as an intern...I laughed alongside him daily. He made a point to teach medical residents without judgement, but with a smile on his face and a joke."
- Very well written account of what's happening in MN right now
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- The outlet owned by one of the richest dudes in the world. The idea that Bezos must layoff more people, not send reporters to cover major events ... What a ridiculous situation.
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- Reposted by Matt DempseyBreaking NYT: The FBI agent who sought to investigate the federal immigration officer who fatally shot Renee Good has resigned from the bureau, according to two people familiar with the matter, after leadership pressured her to discontinue a civil rights inquiry into the officer.
- Reposted by Matt Dempseyhey guys, just to confirm this is my fundraiser. i didn't want to ask for help, but i do need it. my cancer is back. i am going through a lobectomy next week, the same surgery Walter White undergoes. i can't express how grateful i am. thank you so much everyone. www.gofundme.com/f/support-ge...
- How did I miss that Trump rolled back the Biden executive order that prohibited medical debt from being reported to credit agencies? Can't imagine the reasoning behind doing that.
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- We've been playing a family multiplayer game of Baldur's Gate 3 for months now. (Me, my wife, our teenager and my BIL). We went to start the Counting House heist/quest and everything got weird. 1) guards went hostile for no reason. 2) everyone but wife PC died but hostiles refuse to attack her.
- Seriously. A surge? Are these people just desperate to relive the early 00s?
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- Reposted by Matt DempseyBreaking News: A day after the Trump administration said it was cutting $2 billion in mental health funding, it reversed itself and reinstated the money.
- Reposted by Matt DempseyBREAKING: Dan Ceisler, the new sheriff of Pennsylvania's Bucks County, just announced he has terminated his county's 287(g) contract with ICE. Ceisler defeated GOP sheriff who'd joined the ICE program in November, & ran on quitting it; we reported then:
- Reposted by Matt Dempseythinking a lot about the 2023 police newspaper raid in marion, kansas in light of the FBI searching a washington post reporter's home.
- I've been tearing through NK Jemisin's excellent Broken Earth series. It's a powerful read. Especially now. She does an amazing job of conveying what it feels like to live in a society where no one believes you have the right to exist, unless of course you chose to be used for their benefit.
- A reporter doing her best in impossible times, posts an essay on how hard this is both for her and her sources. The federal government then raided @hannahnatanson.bsky.social 's home. My heart goes out to her and her family. No one should feel the yoke of the govt because they talked to people.
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- Reposted by Matt Dempseythis still slaps youtu.be/ZQ_MEFVx5jM?...
- It might be the saddest, most infuriating detail of the whole situation.
- Felt really proud of the work I reviewed today for award entries. 1) Our project on Pennsylvania's struggling mental health system: www.spotlightpa.org/series/the-c... and 2) Our investigation on PSU's Cancer Institute: www.spotlightpa.org/statecollege...
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- Reposted by Matt DempseyMarco Rubio is reportedly saying Maduro will stand trial in US courts. Which means it’s now the US administration’s position that US courts can hold foreign presidents, but not the US president, accountable for crimes.
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- Reposted by Matt DempseyI wrote this column about the aggressive pushback our reporters have received for doing their jobs. Our Reporters Reached Out for Comment. They Were Accused of Stalking and Intimidation.
- Until Mizzou can figure out just a decent passing game, every defense in the world will just load up the box and sell out on the run. Do some mesh! Some slants! Hell I'll take a bubble screen!
- Met @taniel.bsky.social at a conference this year. Dude absolutely walks the walk. You should definitely support the work of @boltsmag.org . While you do that, we would also love some support for @spotlightpa.org ! We're 87% away from our holiday season donation drive. Let's get to the finish line
- Reposted by Matt DempseyWhen I was on CNN's northeast desk, the first job at 6a every morning was to read the local papers. That guided some of what the massive CNN machine followed every day. When those papers die, CNN doesn't hire new regional reporters. What you get instead is more panel shows, more punditry.
- "The newspaper industry served as a feeder for our entire news media ecosystem. So when we lose those newspapers, we've lost that journalism. In the early 2000s, we had 40 journalists per 100,000 people. We're now down to 8 journalists per 100,000 people," says @victorpickard.bsky.social.
