K I M
B A R K E R
has worked as an investigative reporter for The New York Times and ProPublica, a podcast host for Serial and an international correspondent for the Chicago Tribune. She wrote a darkly comic book about her five years of reporting on the war in Afghanistan and Pakistan for the Tribune that became a New York Times bestseller. That book, “The Taliban Shuffle: Strange Days in Afghanistan and Pakistan,” was turned into the movie, “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot,” starring Tina Fey as Kim Baker the TV journalist, thereby making the most common typo of Barker’s name much more common and rewriting her history as a newspaper reporter.
In 2021, Barker was one of the lead writers and reporters on a project on police traffic stops at The Times that was later awarded the Pulitzer Prize for national reporting. In 2023, Barker became the first reporter at The Times to do a podcast
In 2021, Barker was one of the lead writers and reporters on a project on police traffic stops at The Times that was later awarded the Pulitzer Prize for national reporting. In 2023, Barker became the first reporter at The Times to do a podcast with Serial–that podcast, “The Coldest Case in Laramie,” was based on a murder that happened when Barker was a teenager in Wyoming.
Barker wrote her book while she was the press fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. She’s also worked as a reporter at ProPublica, The Seattle Times, The Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Wash., and The Times of Northwest Indiana.
Since 2018, Barker has taught investigative journalism techniques at Columbia University and elsewhere. She’s won awards for both feature writing and investigative reporting, and she’s convinced the two work best together. She’s a ruthless editor who thinks a lot about structure and how to focus a story. Barker, who grew up in Montana and Wyoming, also knows how to catch and clean fish, and she thinks that makes her a more patient journalist. She now lives in Brooklyn, N.Y., with her dog Lucy, who spends most of her time snoring.