Ashley Feinberg is an American journalist, covering politics, media, and technology. She is known for her internet sleuthing, through which she has uncovered information about the

online In computer technology and telecommunications, online indicates a state of connectivity, and offline indicates a disconnected state. In modern terminology, this usually refers to an Internet connection, but (especially when expressed as "on lin ...

activity of

public figure A public figure is a person who has achieved fame, prominence or notoriety within a society, whether through achievement, luck, action, or in some cases through no purposeful action of their own. In the context of defamation actions (libel and ...

Education

Feinberg was born in

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

. She attended Trinity University and studied English and Communication, graduating in 2012.

Career

Feinberg began her journalism career in 2011 as an intern at the ''

San Antonio Current The ''San Antonio Current'' is a free weekly alternative newspaper in San Antonio, Texas. The ''Current'' focuses on investigative journalism, political analysis, and critical coverage of local music and culture. It also contains extensive and up ...

''. She joined

Gizmodo ''Gizmodo'' () is a design, technology, science, and science fiction website. It was originally launched as part of the Gawker Media network run by Nick Denton. ''Gizmodo'' also includes the sub-blogs ''io9'' and ''Earther'', which focus on pop ...

in 2013 as an Editorial Assistant. Feinberg drew attention with how-to story about the "creepiest things you can do on

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

, such as tagging yourself in someone else’s engagement photo and requesting a relationship status." She later was promoted as a staff writer at

Gawker ''Gawker'' was an American blog founded by Nick Denton and Elizabeth Spiers that was based in New York City and focused on celebrities and the media industry. According to SimilarWeb, the site had over 23 million visits per month in 2015. Fo ...

. Discussing Gawker's closing in 2016, ''

HuffPost ''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers p ...

'' cited Feinberg's work for the site among the reasons that " you care about

free speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recognise ...

, then you should care about Gawker." In August 2015, Feinberg broke news of ''

19 Kids and Counting ''19 Kids and Counting'' (formerly ''17 Kids and Counting'' and ''18 Kids and Counting'') is an American reality television series that aired on the cable channel TLC for seven years until its cancellation in 2015. The show features the Duggar ...

'' participant and conservative Christian activist

Josh Duggar Joshua James Duggar (born March 3, 1988) is an American convicted sex offender and former reality television personality. The eldest of Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar's nineteen children, Duggar and his family gained fame as the focus of the TLC se ...

's use of

Ashley Madison Ashley Madison, or The Ashley Madison Agency, is a Canadian-French online dating service and social networking service. It was launched in 2002 and marketed to people who are married (or people in relationships) who are looking for affairs. T ...

, an online dating service marketed to married people seeking extramarital affairs. Duggar's paid account was exposed in a July 2015 hacking of the site. In March 2017, she discovered FBI director

James Comey James Brien Comey Jr. (; born December 14, 1960) is an American lawyer who was the seventh director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 2013 until Dismissal of James Comey, his termination in May 2017. Comey was a registered Repub ...

's secret

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

and

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

accounts, which he confirmed later that year. Comey had previously mentioned a secret account in an interview and Feinberg connected the pseudonym "

Reinhold Niebuhr Karl Paul Reinhold Niebuhr (June 21, 1892 – June 1, 1971) was an American Reformed theologian, ethicist, commentator on politics and public affairs, and professor at Union Theological Seminary for more than 30 years. Niebuhr was one of Ameri ...

", who was the subject of Comey's college thesis. In October 2017, Feinberg joined ''HuffPost''. In November 2017, according to Fox News, Feinberg tweeted, "Congratulations to John McCain's wife and children on their upcoming tax-free inheritance", alluding to McCain's treatment for brain cancer. She subsequently received significant criticism, and later deleted the tweet and apologized. She later joined ''

Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

'', in May 2019. Writing in the ''

Columbia Journalism Review The ''Columbia Journalism Review'' (''CJR'') is a biannual magazine for professional journalists that has been published by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism since 1961. Its original purpose was "to assess the performance ...

'', Matthew Kassel said, "Feinberg's highly ironized persona gives her the air of a digital-era

Andy Kaufman Andrew Geoffrey Kaufman ( ; January 17, 1949 – May 16, 1984) was an American entertainer and performance artist. He has sometimes been called an "anti-humor, anti-comedian". He disdained telling jokes and engaging in comedy as it was tra ...

." Feinberg's Gawker colleague John Cook described her as "sort of an anti-

troll A troll is a being in Nordic folklore, including Norse mythology. In Old Norse sources, beings described as trolls dwell in isolated areas of rocks, mountains, or caves, live together in small family units, and are rarely helpful to human bei ...

... She uses the weapons of the troll for the forces of good." Her interview with Twitter CEO

Jack Dorsey Jack Patrick Dorsey (born November 19, 1976) is an American businessperson, who is a co-founder of Twitter, Inc. and its CEO during 2007–2008 and 2015–2021, as well as co-founder, principal executive officer and chairman of Block, Inc. (deve ...

was reported internationally, with Dorsey and commentators saying that it made Dorsey "look bad". Feinberg was chosen for the 2019

Forbes 30 Under 30 ''Forbes'' 30 Under 30 is a set of lists published annually by ''Forbes'' magazine since 2011 consisting of 30 notable people under 30 years old in various industries. The American list consists of 600 people, with 30 selected in each of 20 sect ...

in Media list, which noted she is "known for uncovering secrets about public figures through digital sleuthing, having discovered Donald Trump Jr.’s hundreds of posts on an online hunting forum,

Sebastian Gorka Sebastian Lukács Gorka (; born October 22, 1970) is a British-Hungarian-American media host and commentator, currently affiliated with Salem Radio Network and NewsMax TV, and a United States government official. He served in the first Trump ...

’s Amazon wishlist and James Comey’s once-private Twitter account" as well as Duggar's

account. In March 2019, Feinberg reported in ''HuffPost'' that American news website ''

Axios Axios commonly refers to: * Axios (river), a river that runs through Greece and North Macedonia * ''Axios'' (website), an American news and information website Axios may also refer to: Brands and enterprises * Axios, a brand of suspension produ ...

'' had paid a firm to improve its reputation by lobbying for changes to the

Wikipedia Wikipedia is a free content, free Online content, online encyclopedia that is written and maintained by a community of volunteers, known as Wikipedians, through open collaboration and the wiki software MediaWiki. Founded by Jimmy Wales and La ...

articles on ''Axios'' and Jonathan Swan. In August 2019, Feinberg and her former employer, ''HuffPost'', were sued for defamation by Professor Derrick Evans for a 2018 article alleging he and Douglas Kennedy had supplied cocaine to fellow students at

Georgetown Preparatory School Georgetown Preparatory School (also known as Georgetown Prep) is a Jesuit college-preparatory school in Rockville, Maryland for boys in ninth through twelfth grade. It has a 93-acre (380,000 square meters) campus. It is the only Jesuit boarding s ...

during Brett Kavanaugh's time there, while also insinuating a connection to the drug overdose death of Kennedy's brother. In October 2019, Feinberg uncovered an anonymous Twitter account that Republican senator

Mitt Romney Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) is an American businessman and retired politician. He served as a United States Senate, United States senator from Utah from 2019 to 2025 and as the 70th governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 ...

had used to, among other political comments, post criticism of Donald Trump. In December 2019, Feinberg investigated editors on the

English Wikipedia The English Wikipedia is the primary English-language edition of Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia. It was created by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger on 15 January 2001, as Wikipedia's first edition. English Wikipedia is hosted alongside o ...

who made edits that appeared to have been written either by

Pete Buttigieg Peter Paul Montgomery Buttigieg ( ; born January 19, 1982) is an American politician and former naval officer who served as the 19th United States Secretary of Transportation, United States secretary of transportation from 2021 to 2025. A me ...

or by an individual with intimate knowledge of his early life, family, education, friends, and career. The Buttigieg campaign responded by claiming that these editors were not Buttigieg.

References

External links

*
Feinberg discusses reporting on Josh Duggar's Ashley Madison account
on MSNBC, August 24, 2015 {{DEFAULTSORT:Feinberg, Ashley 21st-century American women journalists 21st-century American journalists 21st-century American women writers Gawker Media HuffPost writers and columnists Jewish American journalists Journalists from New York City Journalists from Texas Living people Slate (magazine) people Trinity University (Texas) alumni Writers from Dallas Year of birth missing (living people)