About Us

Welcome to The Barbed Wire. 

We’re witty, brash, and irreverently Texan. We’re an alt-weekly for the modern era. 

We are a next-generation digital media property for all things Texas. We’re hoping to make you laugh, tell your stories, and entertain you — whether you scroll on your iPad at home in Marfa or on your phone at a bar in Dallas. 

The majesty, absurdity, diversity, and ferocity of Texas is in everything we do — from headline-worthy scoops and cultural analysis to in-depth reporting and investigations. We’ll have tips for surviving the Texas heat, feature essays about your favorite quarterback, and we’ll tell you how to navigate the current hellscape that is maternal health care. We’ll cover news and culture from El Paso and Round Rock to the very top of the Panhandle. We will also cover people with power and how they use it. 

Our editorial outlook is ideologically progressive, and our journalism is nonpartisan. At The Barbed Wire, we have assembled a team of reporters who will treat all political parties and all candidates as fair targets of thoughtful reporting — and as joke fodder for our merch store (we’ve got bills to pay, too). We won’t be engaging in both-sidesism or providing a platform for unscientific, inaccurate information. We’ll be fact-first, thoughtful, and intentional about how we approach our coverage. 

We’re going to respect your attention by earning your trust with honesty and plain language. If water is falling from the sky, we’ll call it rain. If a law has disenfranchised people based on the color of their skin, we’ll call that racist. We’ll write headlines that are spicy and hopefully funny, but aren’t clickbait.
With the help of our readers and funders — a mix of private investors, nonprofit grantors, and you, our individual members and supporters — The Barbed Wire celebrates Texas culture in all its wonderful weirdness. Aug. 26, 2024, was our beta launch, which means that we’re flying a plane while building it. We want to hear your ideas and to know what you’d like to see more of — podcasts? Short fiction? Data journalism? Please email us, send us pitches, subscribe to our free newsletter, follow us on social media, or even become a paying member.

Who We Are

Editorial Staff

We’re here to produce credible journalism that readers trust. To tell important stories, and to do it well. Here’s who we hired to make that happen: Our team is from all over the Lone Star State — Killeen and Houston, Wichita Falls and San Antonio, Austin and Dallas. 

Olivia Messer — Editor-in-Chief

Olivia Messer is editor-in-chief of The Barbed Wire. Her decade-long, dogged investigative work on the Texas Legislature has repeatedly exposed a culture of sexual abuse and harassment, sending bipartisan shockwaves through the state and leading to significant reforms. (Keep sending her tips: olivia@thebarbedwire.com.)

Olivia grew up in Houston, then cut her teeth as a local crime reporter for the Waco Tribune-Herald before moving to New York, where she wrote for The Daily Beast’s award-winning Cheat Sheet newsletter and then national news desk. She is now based in Austin and has published work in Rolling Stone, Marie Claire, Slate, Texas Monthly, and Texas Observer. Tina Brown once called her “meticulous,” and former First Lady Barbara Bush once read to her elementary school class. Her forthcoming novel — about a journalist losing her grip on reality — is called “Something’s Wrong With the Girls” and will be published by Rare Bird. Read more about Olivia and her vision for The Barbed Wire.

Cara Kelly — Managing Editor

Cara Kelly is Managing Editor of The Barbed Wire. Her reporting has uncovered institutional sexual harassment and violence in massage schools, ride-share companies, and the Boy Scouts of America. She spent five years on the investigations team at USA Today after a stint as entertainment editor for the paper during the height of the Me Too movement.

Cara is an adjunct professor at American University. Though based in Washington, D.C., she’s an adopted member of the Texas press corp after spending a year investigating sexual harassment in the state senate for Texas Monthly.

Leslie Rangel — Deputy Managing Editor

Leslie Rangel, a first-generation daughter of Mexican and Guatemalan immigrants, is deputy managing editor of The Barbed Wire. Her award-winning journalism is focused on issues of health, mental wellness, race, gender, and social justice. 

Leslie was previously morning anchor for the “Good Day Austin” morning news show. Her journalism has received Emmy nominations and recognition from the United Nations. Leslie is also a 2023 recipient of the Chauncey Bailey Investigative Reporters and Editors Journalist of Color fellowship. She was founding evening anchor at KWKT in Waco and reported for KFOR in Oklahoma City, KXAN in Austin, and KFDM in Beaumont. Leslie co-authored a book to help journalists with their mental health called “Journalists Break News, Don’t Let It Break You.” She is also vegan, was in the drumline for The Showband of the Southwest, and is a mom to two rescue pugs. 

Brian Gaar — Senior Editor

Brian Gaar is a senior editor for The Barbed Wire. A longtime Texas journalist, he has written for the Austin American-Statesman, the Waco Tribune-Herald, Texas Monthly, and many other publications. He was also a writer and producer at the beloved Austin production company, Rooster Teeth.

Brian grew up in Wichita Falls and graduated from the University of Texas at Austin. He’s a veteran Austin comedian and released a standup album that hit #2 on the iTunes comedy charts (thanks, Jim Gaffigan). He also hosted a late-night comedy show, “ATX Uncensored(ish),” on Austin’s NBC affiliate.

Candi Bolden — Social Media Manager

Candi Bolden is the social media manager of The Barbed Wire. Candi is based in Dallas-Fort Worth and has previously run social media accounts for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. As part of her journalism career, she worked the Republican National Convention for CNN, covered swatting threats in Wichita, Kansas, and photographed 2020 unrest in Fort Worth, Texas. Candi is a military brat born in Nebraska and came to Texas in 2013 to attend Southern Methodist University. She loves crafts, baking, and her two dogs and two cats.

Juliana Lightsey — Trending News Fellow

Juliana is a senior at Rice University studying political science, social policy analysis, and English. She also works as managing editor of the Rice student newspaper, the Rice Thresher, and previously interned at the Houston Chronicle.

Taylor Crumpton — Contributor

Taylor Crumpton is a music, pop culture, and politics writer from Dallas. In her work—which can be found in outlets like The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Harper’s Bazaar, The Guardian, NPR, and many other platforms—Crumpton writes about a range of topics from Black Queer advocacy to the underrepresented hip-hop scenes in the southern United States to pop analysis on releases like “WAP” and “Black Is King.”

Sam Judy — Contributor

Sam Judy is an award-winning investigative journalist with a background in criminal justice and civil rights reporting. He has gained prominence through his coverage of the 1970s police killings of the Johnson brothers in South Oak Cliff, Cop City Dallas, and the story of political prisoner Dr. Aafia Siddiqui. His previous work has been featured in Dallas Weekly, Dallas Free Press, and Prism Reports. Sam Judy founded and works as Editor-in-Chief for populist newsroom and culture magazine Dallas Nomad.

Kit O’Connell — Contributor

Kit O’Connell is a GLAAD-Media Award nominated freelance journalist whose work was recently profiled in the Columbia Journalism Review. The former Digital Editor of the Texas Observer, their work has also appeared in Truthout, LGBTQ Nation, Yes! Magazine and the Austin Chronicle, among others. They live in Austin with their spouse and two orange cats.

Amanda McCoy — Social Media Fellow

Amanda McCoy is a social media fellow and recent journalism graduate from Texas State University, where she also minored in psychology. She has experience in digital writing and social media, connecting people from diverse backgrounds. Amanda is also passionate about pop culture, baking, and human behavior.

Steven Monacelli — Contributor

Steven Monacelli writes the Hell & High Water column for The Barbed Wire. He works as the special investigative correspondent for the Texas Observer and is the publisher of Protean, a nonprofit literary publication. His work has been featured in Rolling Stone, The Daily Beast, WIRED, Nieman Lab, Texas Monthly, Dallas Observer, and more. 

Steven grew up in Colleyville and currently resides in Dallas, where his reporting contributed to the indictment of two police officers on police brutality charges. Steven’s favorite thing about Texas is that it has a best-in-the nation anti-SLAPP law, which protects journalists — and everyone else — exercising their First Amendment rights.

Erin Russell — Contributor

Erin Russell is an Austin native with over a decade of journalism experience, including six years as the associate editor of Eater Austin. Find her writing at www.erinrussellwrites.com.

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Business & Operations

David Cohen — CEO & Co-Founder

With a background in progressive politics, business startups, and nonprofits, David helps manage The Barbed Wire’s finances and administrative operations. 

Billy Begala — Managing Director for Product & Operations & Co-Founder

Billy Begala is the managing director for product and operations at The Barbed Wire. He still isn’t quite sure what his title means, but Billy spends most of his time working under the hood of the website, trying to make sure The Barbed Wire is as awesome and fun as the people who read it. That means if a link is broken or a page is bugged, it’s probably his fault. Occasionally, the editors let him write a thing or two. 

Billy was born in Austin as William Travis Begala, named for the commander of the Texan forces at the Alamo. He grew up in Virginia but was raised to bleed burnt orange and returned to Texas as quickly as he could to attend the University of Texas. He has called Austin his home ever since. Prior to working at The Barbed Wire, Billy spent his professional life working in campaign, legislative, and advocacy communications and press relations in Austin and across Texas.

Hannah Langenfeld — Operations Fellow

Hannah Langenfeld is an American University alumna and journalist from Boston, Massachusetts. Langenfeld has written and edited a range of topics and stories at various news media outlets for over four years. She was awarded the 2025 David Carr Scholarship and participated in the Asian American Journalists Association’s inaugural “entering political journalism” course. Langenfeld is fervent about foreign correspondence, especially reporting about global politics and humanitarian issues in war and conflict zones from a gendered lens. She resides in Washington, D.C.

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Advisers

Jamil Smith — Adviser

Jamil Smith is editor-in-chief of The Emancipator. An incisive opinion writer, television producer, and cultural critic, Jamil has primarily covered the intersection of politics, culture, and identity during his decades in media. In 2019, the New York City chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists awarded Jamil its prize for arts reporting for his Time cover story about the film “Black Panther.” Prior to writing full-time for publications such as Rolling Stone and The Los Angeles Times, he earned three Sports Emmys while at NFL Films.

Elizabeth Spiers — Senior Adviser

Elizabeth Spiers is a New York Times columnist, co-host of the “Slate Money” podcast, a media entrepreneur, and an NYU professor of journalism. She was the founding editor at Gawker.com, founder of Breaking Media, former editor-in-chief of the New York Observer, and has been a columnist at Fortune and Fast Company.

Brian Sweany — Adviser

Brian Sweany is former editor-in-chief of Texas Monthly, where he was on staff for 18 years.

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Pitch Us

We’re committed to producing quality journalism from Texas writers and reporters. If you’ve got an idea, we want to hear it. We’re looking for timely stories based on news and trend cycles that are approachable and imbued with voice; real stories told by diverse Texans, with context and verve; and old-school investigative reporting and scoops.

Our rates range from $400/piece on essays and low-lift stories to $1/word on original reporting, with tiers in between based on time investment, level of reporting, and degrees of complexity and sensitivity.

Please submit your ideas to pitches@thebarbedwire.com —

If it is your first time pitching us, please ensure your pitch (no more than a paragraph in length) includes:

• A strong working headline.
• Why you are the right person to tell this story or your specific expertise on the topic.
• Links to relevant clips and work samples.
• Your previous work experience and where you are based.

Standards

Since we’re in beta, this section reflects our currently adopted policies and will expand and evolve as we do. The Barbed Wire values clarity for readers, as well as inclusivity, transparency, and consistency. 

Our style guide is a mix of Associated Press and preferences we’ve accumulated working in previous newsrooms, with influences from Language, Please; the Trans Journalists Association Stylebook and Coverage Guide; the Disability Language Style Guide from the National Center on Disability and Journalism; The Diversity Style Guide, a project by the Center for Integration and Improvement of Journalism; the Reporting and Indigenous Terminology Guide from the Native American Journalists Association; the National Association of Hispanic Journalists’ Cultural Competence Handbook; the National Association of Black Journalists Style Guide; the BuzzFeed Style Guide (RIP); and the Dart Center Style Guide for Trauma-Informed Journalism.

Anonymous Sources

Anonymous sources will be used only in cases of legitimate, demonstrable fear of professional or personal damage when stories serve the public interest. In those cases, editorial leadership will ensure that reporters have verified the source’s identity through all means possible, including corroborating interviews, social media accounts, and public records. Even with documentation and corroboration, sole anonymous sources will not, except in very rare cases, be the basis for stories published in The Barbed Wire.

Citations & Attribution

When we refer to other reporting, in citations or quotations, we will attribute with a hyperlink to the original source and, as often as possible, name those sources. Plagiarism and factual fabrication are not permitted and will be taken seriously.

Conflicts of Interest

Conflicts of interest involving either reporters or editors — including previous work histories, personal relationships, and more — must be disclosed to The Barbed Wire’s editorial and legal teams, and, when applicable, included in the text of a story or in an editor’s note.

Corrections

We know that we’re going to make mistakes. We plan to correct them quickly and then tell you what happened. We will acknowledge factual errors and their requisite updates via an editor’s note at the end of a story or — in cases of significant errors — at the top of a story. Our editorial decisions will be guided by this sentiment: We will disclose as much as possible, as often as possible. 

corrections@thebarbedwire.com

Deletions

Stories will be deleted or removed from the website only in extreme circumstances — some examples may include significant factual inaccuracies, legal or ethical violations, or personal safety concerns. In those events, our editorial leadership will make the decision and then explain to readers why it happened. 

Political Affiliations

Full-time salaried employees for The Barbed Wire may elect to vote or not vote in any political party’s primary election and to vote or not vote in state, local, and federal general elections; but employees will refrain from serving as a delegate, donor, officer, or official member of any political party or candidate campaign committee. Full-time salaried editorial employees are encouraged to support nonprofit organizations of their choice but are prohibited from contributing to candidates, political action committees, or political parties.

Requests for Comment & Reporter Identification

In public and online, reporters for The Barbed Wire may observe actions and record statements without identifying themselves or asking for comment, as is industry standard for rallies, protests, and public forums. However, in communicating with any sources directly, reporters will identify themselves as working for The Barbed Wire when asking questions and seeking permission for the use of materials. Same goes should questions be asked of the reporters themselves. Any individuals and organizations that are the significant focus of original reporting — even when the focus of that reporting is social media content — should be contacted with requests for comment before publication and given a reasonable time to respond. Ideally, reporters should offer the subject of a story a phone or in-person interview before asking specific questions via email or other means.

Social Media Policies

The Barbed Wire’s journalists are encouraged to be active online and may express personal opinions that do not reflect the official position of the newsroom at large. They should also be aware that anything posted to their social media accounts will live permanently on the internet wasteland and can forever be used against them, their colleagues, or the newsroom. Employees should never publicly discredit or attack their colleagues, should not share proprietary newsroom information without consent, should not comment on legal matters pertaining to the company, should not engage inappropriately with sources or readers, and should always think before sharing their opinions in a public forum. Reporters also should not enter any sponsored content agreements on their social media accounts.

Violence & Content Warnings

The Barbed Wire will employ routine editor’s notes to warn readers — and provide resources — when featuring content that covers suicide, severe mental illness, violence, threatening language, as well as natural and human-caused disasters.