Rob Capriccioso

Rob Capriccioso is a journalist and writer who founded the Indigenous Wire publication on the Substack platform.[1] He is the first Indigenous journalist to receive a Substack Pro deal.[2] Indigenous Wire covers policy, politics, media, economics and sovereignty issues.[3]

Capriccioso was the long-time Washington Bureau Chief for Indian Country Today and wrote special features for the publication during the COVID-19 pandemic;[4] before that he worked as a general assignment reporter for ICT starting in 2008.[5] He was later a senior editor based in the Washington, D.C. metro area for Tribal Business News.[6] He was a contributing writer to American Indian Report and News from Indian Country.[7]

An enrolled citizen of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan,[8] Capriccioso covers the White House, the Executive Branch, the United States Congress, the Supreme Court of the United States, and presidential campaigns, 2004 through 2020.[9][10] He is the first Native American journalist to Q&A a sitting president, President Barack Obama, in an Oct. 4, 2012 news story titled, "President Obama Answers Questions From Indian Country Today Media Network in Unprecedented Exchange.".[11] Previously, he received answers from President George W. Bush for a journalistic website presentation of the former Connect for Kids publication.[12]

He interviews such notables as Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg,[13] White House Chief of Staff Pete Rouse,[14] Bolivian President Evo Morales,[15] Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid,[16] Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff,[17] members of Congress and tribal leaders. His reporting on Indigenous issues was cited in testimony to Congress.[18] His reporting on the Treasury Department's inequitable distributions of pandemic relief funds to tribes was cited in a September 2021 letter from several U.S. senators to the Biden administration.[19] He was a featured speaker at the 2022 SXSW conference, regarding his work as a journalist during the so-called "creator economy."[20][21]

One of a small number of Native American journalists to contribute to mainstream media, as documented by the Native American Journalists Association, he has served as a contributing editor to Campaigns and Elections,[22] helped launch Politico as its founding website editor,[23] and has appeared on National Public Radio[24][25][26] to discuss Native and political topics of the day. He was a contributor to True/Slant,[27] the Forbes-backed online network. His articles have appeared in American Indian Report, News from Indian Country, The New York Sun, High Country News, The American, Cultural Survival Quarterly, the New York Post's PageSix.com, Radar Magazine, TMZ.com, The New York Times and The Guardian.[28] He was previously a staff reporter on education and youth issues for Connect for Kids,[29] and Inside Higher Ed,[30] in Washington, D.C. He is a political science and psychology alum of the University of Michigan. He resides in metro Washington, D.C.