Erica Christine Barnett (born September 15, 1977) is an American journalist and blogger who covers the city of Seattle. She is known locally within

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

for her crowdsourced journalism in Seattle.

Viking Press Viking Press (formally Viking Penguin, also listed as Viking Books) is an American publishing company owned by Penguin Random House. It was founded in New York City on March 1, 1925, by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheimer and then acqu ...

released her book ''Quitter: A Memoir of Drinking, Relapse, and Recovery'' on July 7, 2020.

Early life and education

Barnett is from Texas. She admired advocacy journalists

Molly Ivins Mary Tyler "Molly" Ivins (August 30, 1944 – January 31, 2007) was an American newspaper columnist, author, and political commentator, known for her humorous and insightful writing, which often used satire and wit to critique political fig ...

and Hunter S Thompson, and attended the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

from 1995 through 1999, graduating with a BA in philosophy.

Career

From 1998 to 2001, Barnett was a senior news editor and columnist for ''

The Austin Chronicle ''The Austin Chronicle'' is an alternative weekly newspaper published every Thursday in Austin, Texas, United States. The paper is distributed through free news-stands, often at local eateries or coffee houses frequented by its targeted demogra ...

'', and then spent two years at the ''Seattle Weekly'' before moving to ''The Stranger'', where she served as a staff writer until 2009. While there, she received a Civic Award from the Municipal League of King County for best government affairs reporting. The ''

Seattle Post-Intelligencer The ''Seattle Post-Intelligencer'' (popularly known as the ''Seattle P-I'', the ''Post-Intelligencer'', or simply the ''P-I'') is an online newspaper and former print newspaper based in Seattle, Washington (state), Washington, United States. Th ...

'' praised her efforts to document the connection between Washington State House Speaker

Frank Chopp Frank Vana Chopp (May 13, 1953 – March 22, 2025) was an American politician who was the 46th Speaker of the Washington House of Representatives from 1999 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, Chopp represented Washington's 43rd legislat ...

and the Building Industry Association of Washington during the

2008 Washington gubernatorial election The 2008 gubernatorial election in Washington was held on November 4, 2008. Republican Dino Rossi and incumbent Democratic Governor Christine Gregoire emerged from the August 19 primary. This made the 2008 election a rematch between the candid ...

. In 2011, ''Seattle Magazine'' named her one of Seattle's 'most influential people'. In 2012, Barnett launched the news website PubliCola.com with her co-editor and co-owner Josh Feit. She has also written for

Crosscut.com The ''Cascade PBS'' newsroom, formerly ''Crosscut.com'', is an American nonprofit news website based in Seattle. In contrast to traditional news organizations, the website mainly engages in analytic journalism. It merged with local PBS member s ...

and been featured on Seattle National Public Radio affiliate KUOW. From April 2015 through April 2017 Barnett was Communications Director of NARAL Pro-Choice Washington. In February 2016 Barnett reported on the proceedings of online meetings held on Nextdoor.com by Seattle's police chief and other officials with Nextdoor.com users, describing an echo-chamber atmosphere, and what Seattle Mayor Ed Murray called "paranoid hysteria" about crime in well-off neighborhoods. The social networking site responded by temporarily suspending Barnett's account, for violating their terms of service to keep user comments private, while Barnett said Washington's

open meeting laws Freedom of information laws allow access by the general public to data held by national governments and, where applicable, by state and local governments. The emergence of freedom of information legislation was a response to increasing dissatis ...

took precedence, requiring records of meetings with public officials like the police chief to be accessible to the public. Barnett's reporting caused a wider debate on Nextdoor.com's role and led to city officials reevaluating its relationship with Nextdoor, as well as diminishing Nextdoor's goals of expanding its role with governments nationwide. While writing for TheAtlantic.com later in 2016, she erroneously accused Seattle radio's Ron & Don Show of encouraging listeners to harass a city council member after a contentious sports vote eliminating the possibility of a new sports arena. ''The Atlantic'' retracted the story after it and Barnett were sued for defamation. In April 2018, Barnett obtained and reported on King County's draft homelessness plan. In June 2019, Barnett broke the news of ''The Seattle Times'' reporter Mike Rosenberg's resignation over sexual harassment allegations. In December 2018, Barnett was first to report that Seattle Mayor

Jenny Durkan Jenny Anne Durkan (born May 19, 1958) is an American attorney, former federal prosecutor, and politician who served as the 56th mayor of Seattle, Washington. She is the daughter of Martin Durkan. Durkan is a member of the Democratic Party. Afte ...

's office had made a $720,000 no-bid consulting contract with a consulting firm to represent the city's interest in

Sound Transit 3 Sound Transit 3, abbreviated as ST3, was a referendum, ballot measure during the November 2016 elections in Seattle, Washington (state), Washington, proposing an expansion of the regional public transit system. The measure was proposed by Sound ...

negotiations. In July 2019, Barnett was first to report a letter by Seattle's Human Services Director to administrators of programs funded by Seattle's soda tax that their funding could be cut. In October 2019, Barnett was first to report the unexplained blocks of time in Seattle traffic consultant Mike Worden's calendar as City Council members were raising questions as to exactly what the Mayor was paying Worden to do. Her memoir was published by Viking in 2020. The book analyzes the alcoholism recovery industry, including a critical attitude toward

Alcoholics Anonymous Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is a global, peer-led Mutual aid, mutual-aid fellowship focused on an abstinence-based recovery model from alcoholism through its spiritually inclined twelve-step program. AA's Twelve Traditions, besides emphasizing anon ...

, but Barnett partially credits its approach of "

cognitive behavioral therapy Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a form of psychotherapy that aims to reduce symptoms of various mental health conditions, primarily depression, PTSD, and anxiety disorders. Cognitive behavioral therapy focuses on challenging and chang ...

in a very disorganized manner" for helping her to become sober, an "ex-drinker," in 2015.

Works

* ''Quitter: A Memoir of Drinking, Relapse, and Recovery'' (2020)
Articles
at '' The Stranger''
Articles
at

Notes

References

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Barnett, Erica 21st-century American journalists Writers from Seattle Living people 1977 births American women bloggers American bloggers American women memoirists Journalists from Washington (state)