Isaac M. Saul (/sɔːl/) is an American journalist. His work has appeared in publications including CNN, The Huffington Post, TIME Magazine,[1] the Independent Journal Review[2] and The Daily Mail.[2] Outside of his work with newspapers, in 2020 he founded Tangle, an online newsletter which aims to give nonpartisan coverage of current events.[3]
Early life and career
editSaul was born on May 14, 1991 in Trenton, New Jersey. He first became interested in journalism during his time at Pennsbury High School in Pennsylvania, and got his first job in news while he was an undergraduate student in nonfiction writing at the University of Pittsburgh. He later began work at the Huffington Post, which he left in 2014. After this, Saul helped to found a "positive journalism" site called A Plus News.[4][5]
During the course of his career as a reporter, Saul has covered issues mainly related to American politics[6] and sports.[7] His reporting on an encounter that he had with a controversial lawyer named Aaron Schlossberg was featured in a live broadcast on CNN in 2018.[8] He has also worked as an opinion editor for several major magazines and published several editorials stating his opinions on specific political candidates.[9]
Saul's work in reporting drew particular praise during the challenges to the 2020 US presidential election, when he helped to discredit some of the conspiracy theories and allegations of voter fraud around the election. As part of this effort, he published a running thread of tweets in which he challenged his readers to find an instance of alleged voter fraud that he couldn't disprove, a project which received external media coverage.[10] Saul publicly condemned a number of the fraud claims that he had to respond to, saying that "new lies just kept pouring in," and expressed concern that some of the conspiracy theories were wrongly accusing poll workers of committing election fraud, which could put the lives of these workers in danger.[11] In the end, he had challenged over 32 different conspiracy theories within the first week after the election results were announced.[12]
Also in conjunction with the 2020 election, Saul drew coverage for betting $15,000 with a friend that Joe Biden would be inaugurated as President, a bet which he won.[13]
Tangle
editIn July of 2020 Saul began a politics newsletter called "the Shuffle" which was later renamed to "Tangle."[14] The newsletter continued to expand in readership over the coming months, eventually becoming read in a many as thirty countries.[15] On April 19, 2021, Saul announced that he had quit his job as a newspaper editor to work on Tangle full-time.[16] Tangle has received substantial media coverage focused on the success of its subscriber-based model[17] and its efficacy in bridging political divisions.[18] In 2023, the first live Tangle event, on the state of the Supreme Court, was hosted in Philadelphia.[5]
The newsletter was reviewed by Ad Fontes Media in 2021, and was evaluated as having a slight (1.79 on a scale of 42) level of conservative bias and a high degree of reliability.[19]
As of October 2023, Tangle is believed to have more than 65,000 subscribers, generating more than $600,000 of revenue per year.[20]
Recognition
editIn 2016, Yahoo! News named Saul as one of the 16 people who had had the greatest influence on the 2016 US election.[21] He also was named the winner of the Pittsburgh Neighborhoods in Transition writing contest for a story that he wrote on William Vassar.[4] He also made the Forbes "Next 1000" list of "upstart entrepreneurs redefining the American dream."[22]
Personal life
editOutside of his work, Saul is a competitive Ultimate player. He won several state championships during his time playing for the team at Pennsbury High School, and later won two national championships with his team at the University of Pittsburgh and a national championship with Pride of New York (PoNY), a club team in New York City.[23] Later, he played for the New York City team Rumble.[24]
He has also traveled around the world for his work, and spent five months studying in a yeshiva while living in Jerusalem after college.[25]
References
edit- ^ "YOLK Solar Cow: The 100 Best Inventions of 2019". Time. Archived from the original on 2020-11-29. Retrieved 2021-01-14.
- ^ a b "Isaac Saul, Author at IJR". IJR. Archived from the original on 2021-03-27. Retrieved 2021-01-14.
- ^ Lexington, Transylvania University 300 North Broadway; Fax: 859‐233‐8797, KY 40508 USA Phone: 859-233‐8300. "Creative Intelligence". Transylvania University | Calendar of Events. Retrieved 2023-11-17.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ a b "Isaac Saul". Isaac Saul. Archived from the original on 2021-01-15. Retrieved 2021-01-13.
- ^ a b Avilucea, Isaac (August 2, 2023). "Tangle founder hosts high court chat in Philly". Axios.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Saul, Isaac; ContributorEditor; Plus, A. (2016-09-28). "I Wrote That I Despised Hillary Clinton. Today, I Want To Publicly Take It Back". HuffPost. Archived from the original on 2021-01-21. Retrieved 2021-01-13.
{{cite web}}:|last2=has generic name (help) - ^ Saul, Isaac; ContributorEditor; Plus, A. (2014-01-20). "What Richard Sherman Taught Us About America". HuffPost. Archived from the original on 2021-02-18. Retrieved 2021-01-13.
{{cite web}}:|last2=has generic name (help) - ^ Reporter describes encounter with NYC lawyer - CNN Video, archived from the original on 2021-01-24, retrieved 2021-01-13
- ^ "Isaac Saul | HuffPost". www.huffpost.com. Retrieved 2021-08-14.
- ^ Conley, Julia (2020-11-13). "Trump campaign presents 238 pages of ridiculous GOP poll watcher affidavits". Salon. Retrieved 2023-11-17.
- ^ Fisher, Anthony L. "Voter-fraud debunking journalist Isaac Saul talks about his viral election thread and why the conspiracy theories put poll workers in danger". Business Insider. Retrieved 2023-11-17.
- ^ "32 Republican 'Election Fraud' Claims, Debunked by Isaac Saul". TrumpFile.org. 2020-11-15. Archived from the original on 2020-12-02. Retrieved 2021-03-27.
- ^ "STF Special: Betting $15,000 In Gold On The Future Of The Republic". Spreaker. Retrieved 2021-08-14.
- ^ Saul, Isaac. "Two years (!!!) of Tangle..." www.readtangle.com. Retrieved 2021-08-14.
- ^ "Isaac Saul". Forbes. Retrieved 2021-08-14.
- ^ Saul, Isaac. "So, I quit my job today..." www.readtangle.com. Retrieved 2021-08-14.
- ^ Academy, NBCU (2023-10-11). "How Substack Journalists Are Growing Their Audiences". NBCU Academy. Retrieved 2023-11-17.
- ^ Waldmeir, Patti (2022-05-30). "Two Americans talk across the political divide". Financial Times. Retrieved 2023-11-17.
- ^ Emheldebrandt (2021-04-28). "Tangle Bias and Reliability". Ad Fontes Media. Retrieved 2021-08-14.
- ^ Academy, NBCU (2023-10-11). "How Substack Journalists Are Growing Their Audiences". NBCU Academy. Retrieved 2023-11-17.
- ^ "16 people who shaped the 2016 election: Isaac Saul". www.yahoo.com. Archived from the original on 2020-09-19. Retrieved 2021-01-13.
- ^ "Forbes Next 1000 2021". Forbes. Archived from the original on 2021-03-27. Retrieved 2021-03-27.
- ^ News, Simon Pollock in; comments, Recap with 0 (2018-10-23). "PoNY Dismantles Revolver To Win National Title". Ultiworld. Archived from the original on 2021-02-09. Retrieved 2021-01-14.
{{cite web}}:|last1=has generic name (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ comments, Charlie Eisenhood in News with 6 (2014-06-09). "NY Rumble's Isaac Saul To Join AUDL's Empire After MLU Season". Ultiworld. Archived from the original on 2021-01-15. Retrieved 2021-01-13.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ "Isaac Saul | HuffPost". www.huffpost.com. Archived from the original on 2021-01-15. Retrieved 2021-01-13.
External Links
edit
Category:1991 births
Category:Living people
Category:American journalists
Category:University of Pittsburgh alumni Category:People from Trenton, New Jersey Category:Voter suppression