ProPublica has hired Nick McMillan as a computational journalist on our data and news apps team. In this role, McMillan will use technology and data in innovative ways to find and report stories that would otherwise be out of reach.
“Nick has an impressive track record of using cutting-edge technology to unlock reporting paths,” said Ken Schwencke, senior editor for data and news applications. “I’m excited for him to use those skills to hold power to account at ProPublica.”
McMillan comes to ProPublica from NPR, where he was a data journalist on the investigations team. At NPR, he combined reporting with data analysis, building tools that transformed raw records into evidence for investigations. His work included developing a custom optical character recognition program to parse more than 7,000 government work task files, which helped to reveal how a federal program was killing thousands of wild animals with little accountability. He also co-reported a story revealing how power lines operated by Southern California Edison sparked new fires as crews battled existing ones, creating a tool that processed and transcribed more than 2,000 hours of first responder radio into searchable, time-stamped timelines. Before NPR, he worked on investigative documentaries at Newsy, contributing to reporting on white supremacists in the U.S. military and on the long-term effects of Hurricane Maria on Puerto Rican schoolchildren.
Stories that McMillan has worked on have been recognized nationwide with honors including the National Press Award and an Edward R. Murrow Award.
“ProPublica has led the way for applying data and computational methodologies to uncover
abuses of power,” McMillan said. “I am excited to join the team and grateful for the opportunity to contribute to investigations that serve the public.”
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