Today The Atlantic is announcing two new staff writers: Madeleine Carlisle and Danyel Smith. This marks a homecoming for Madeleine, who was an Atlantic editorial fellow in 2018 and 2019, and went on to Time magazine and most recently 60 Minutes. Danyel is a legend in journalism who spent the past three years as a contributing writer to The New York Times Magazine and was previously the editor of both Vibe and Billboard.
Below is the staff announcement from editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg:
Dear everyone,
I’m very happy to let you know that two extraordinary journalists are joining The Atlantic as staff writers: Madeleine Carlisle and Danyel Smith. Both names should be familiar to you; Danyel’s because she is a legend in journalism, having served as the editor in chief of both Vibe and Billboard; and Maddie’s because she is one of our profession’s rising stars (and in particular because she jump-started her journalism career in 2018 as an Atlantic fellow). About Danyel, who is coming to us from The New York Times Magazine: I’ve been reading Danyel for years, starting, if memory serves, with her brilliant, definitive 1995 cover profile of Whitney Houston, and continuing on through her piercingly forthright 2024 feature in the Times, “I Knew Diddy for Years. What I Now Remember Haunts Me.” Danyel is a brilliant observer of popular culture—and of the music world in particular—who will bring deep knowledge to our reporting and criticism. Danyel’s list of achievements is long. In addition to leading both Vibe and Billboard, she has been an editor and writer at ESPN and is the author of Shine Bright: A Very Personal History of Black Women in Pop. Danyel has profiled some of the biggest names in pop culture (Lionel Richie, Tina Turner, Barry Manilow, SZA), and she will do more of this for us.
About Maddie: A bunch of us sensed that, sooner or later, she would be coming back to us. Maddie was a very successful member of the 2018–19 fellowship class who went on to cover politics, law, and gender issues for Time magazine. She then joined the 60 Minutes team, where she worked with correspondents Scott Pelley, Anderson Cooper, and Cecilia Vega on their stories, including one about crypto billionaire Changpeng Zhao that earned an Emmy nomination for outstanding investigative coverage.
As a fellow on the Politics team, she wrote about a Florida woman whose nephew was killed in the Parkland shooting, and about President Trump’s unfulfilled promises to GM workers in Ohio. We’ve been so happy to watch her become an outstanding journalist, and we’re thrilled that she’s rejoining The Atlantic.
Please join me in welcoming both Maddie and Danyel.
Best wishes, Jeff
Press Contacts: Anna Bross and Quinn O’Brien | [email protected]
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