About Ryan McDermott

Ryan McDermott is a journalist and writer living in Washington, D.C. He’s held just about every job in a newsroom over the last eight years and has fumbled three attempts at writing a novel. Ryan enjoys listening to Taylor Swift just as much as reading David Foster Wallace and has no problem watching Die Hard while hanging a Robert Motherwell print.

Posts by Ryan McDermott

5 Reasons We Shouldn’t Let Long-Form Journalism Die

By Ryan McDermott | March 21, 2013 |

The greatest pieces of journalism, the ones that changed things, have rarely been rip-and-read pieces.

Romanticizing Alcohol (or Why Writing Drunk Is a Terrible Idea)

By Ryan McDermott | March 1, 2013 |

I’d peel my face off the pillow and read what I’d written the night before. And even in my still fermented state, I knew it was trash.

4 Things to Know When Applying for a Reporting Job

By Ryan McDermott | February 22, 2013 |

Even if you are a social media maven who gets tons of web traffic, your work will be useless if you can’t report and write and if you don’t have great news judgment.

Learning to Write at America’s Finest News Source

By Ryan McDermott | February 7, 2013 |

Take all that you learned in J school about inverted pyramid, ledes and sourcing, and on top of that try to be funny. It’s not easy at all.