Independent Journalism Atlas × TrustFnd
Bluesky Creator Intelligence
Session 1–2  ·  April 2026  ·  INTERNAL
Key In Atlas corpus New S1 addition New S2 addition Watchlist
Bluesky Creator Intelligence  ·  Two Spidering Sessions  ·  AT Protocol Public API

The independent journalism
ecosystem lives on Bluesky.
Here's where it maps.

1,165
Verified creators
in Atlas corpus
Human-curated. Beat + geo + platform.
22
Net-new Atlas
additions (S1+S2)
16 Session 1 · 6 Session 2
33
Watchlist entries
across both sessions
18 S1 · 15 S2 · employment-gated
8
Bundle clusters
identified
Health · Tech · Climate · Media · Sports · Music · Natl Sec · History
2.3M+
Combined Bluesky
followers, top 10
Ed Yong 230K · Aaron Rupar 940K · Judd Legum 417K

Two spidering sessions using the AT Protocol public API surfaced the shape of the independent journalism ecosystem on Bluesky — who's there, at what scale, in what beats, and how they cluster. The core finding: the Bluesky migration from Twitter isn't random. It's beat-driven. Health, tech, media criticism, national security, and climate creators moved as communities — and they follow each other. That network topology is the product. Atlas has the corpus to name it. TrustFnd has the infrastructure to monetize it. The bundle concept maps directly onto the clusters that already exist.

01

Bundle Clusters

8 identified  ·  product-ready topology
Bundle · Health & Science
The Maintenance Phase Cluster
Ed Yong Science / Health 230,466
Michael Hobbes Health / Media Criticism 193,805
Melody Schreiber Health / Arctic 16,665
3 creators  ·  440K+ combined Bluesky Platform: Substack / Newsletter
Bundle · Technology
The 404 Media Cluster
Joseph Cox Tech / Cybersecurity 76,986
Jason Koebler Tech / Surveillance 58,873
Karen Hao AI / Technology 21,758
Karl Bode Telecom / Consumer Rights 75,000
4 creators  ·  worker-owned origin story Platform: 404media.co / custom
Bundle · Media Criticism
The Press Critics
Virginia Heffernan Media / Culture 33,202
Jack Mirkinson Media Criticism 10,883
Dan Froomkin Press Watch 80,302
3 creators Substack / Discourse Blog
Bundle · National Security
The OSINT Layer
Garrett M. Graff Natl Security / History 101,620
Wendy Siegelman Kleptocracy / OSINT 50,087
Judd Legum Democracy / Policy 417,348
3 creators  ·  investigations angle Newsletter / Substack
Bundle · Climate
The Heat Cluster
Emily Atkin Climate Accountability 30,955
Amy Westervelt Climate / Investigative 58,192
Akshat Rathi Climate / Bloomberg 30,225
Geoff Dembicki Climate / DeSmog 6,594
2 verified  ·  2 watch Substack / Drilled
Bundle · Music
The Music Critics
Dan Ozzi Music / Punk 4,195
Hanif Abdurraqib Music / Culture —
Carl Wilson Music Criticism / Slate 3,469
Britt Julious Music / Chicago Tribune 5,493
2 verified  ·  2 watch Newsletter / Substack
Bundle · Sports
Worker-Owned Sports Beat
Tom Ley Sports / Defector 5,114
Kim Kelly Labor / Sports Adjacent 111,915
Mina Kimes Sports / ESPN 375,038
2 verified  ·  1 watch · needs depth Ghost / Defector
Bundle · History & Culture
The Long Arc
Patrick Wyman History / Culture 21,607
David M. Perry History / Disability 58,083
Molly Crabapple Politics / Art / Intl 24,924
3 creators  ·  S2 adds podcast dimension Substack / Podcast
02

TrustFnd Priority Tier

Outreach-ready  ·  20K+ Bluesky & newsletter confirmed
# Creator Bluesky Beat Platform Status Open Question
01
Ed Yong
edyong.me  ·  S2
 230,466 Science / Health Freelance / Website Verify platform Newsletter at edyong.me? Substack? Patreon? Left The Atlantic 2023 — independent now.
02
Michael Hobbes
maintenancephase.com  ·  S1
 193,805 Health / Media Criticism Substack + Podcast Confirmed Highest-priority outreach. Substack confirmed. Ready now.
03
Garrett M. Graff
doomsdayscenario.co  ·  S1
 101,620 Natl Security / History Newsletter Verify platform Custom domain — confirm Substack/Beehiiv/Ghost before outreach.
04
Joseph Cox
404media.co  ·  S2
 76,986 Tech / Cybersecurity Email newsletter Custom platform 404 Media uses custom email infra. TrustFnd API integration may be needed.
05
Jason Koebler
404media.co  ·  S1
 58,873 Tech / Surveillance Email newsletter Custom platform Same 404 Media platform as Cox — approach together as a pair.
06
David M. Perry
modernmedieval.substack.com  ·  S1
 58,083 History / Disability Substack Confirmed Clean Substack. Ready for outreach.
07
Wendy Siegelman
[newsletter TBD]  ·  S1
 50,087 Kleptocracy / OSINT Newsletter Verify platform Active newsletter confirmed from bio; platform unknown. Verify before outreach.
08
Patrick Wyman
patrickwyman.substack.com  ·  S2
 21,607 History / Culture Substack + Podcast Confirmed Substack confirmed. Podcast-first creator; strong crossover potential.
09
Virginia Heffernan
Magic + Loss on Substack  ·  S1
 33,202 Media / Culture / Tech Substack + Podcast Confirmed Ready for outreach.
10
Karen Hao
empireofai.com  ·  S1
 21,758 AI / Technology Newsletter / Book Verify platform Empire of AI newsletter platform unclear. Verify subscription model.
03

The Watchlist

33 entries  ·  employed or platform-gated

These creators meet the audience threshold but are currently employed at named outlets. The watchlist is a living signal layer — when any of them launch independent platforms, Atlas catches it first. Several are likely one newsletter launch away from the priority tier.

Jamelle Bouie
NYT Opinion
731K
Largest single account found across both sessions. If he launches independent newsletter: instant top-5.
Saeed Jones
VIBE CHECK / Harvard
145K
145K Bluesky. Poet + cultural critic + Substack. Boundary case — verify journalism threshold for Atlas corpus.
Ana Marie Cox
New Republic / Podcast
159K
Contributing editor + multiple podcasts. High-profile. Verify independent newsletter before outreach.
Moira Donegan
The Guardian
102K
Guardian Opinion columnist + podcast. Powerful gender/politics voice. Independent newsletter TBD.
Noah Shachtman
Wired / NYT Opinion
166K
If he launches independent newsletter: instant national security bundle anchor.
Justin Ling
Toronto Star / Wired
51K
Canada-based. Heavy disinformation / natl security beat. Independent-adjacent. Verify newsletter platform.
Elizabeth Lopatto
The Verge
53K
53K Bluesky. Senior tech editor. Strong independent voice. Watch if she goes independent.
Annie Lowrey
The Atlantic
40K
Economics / policy. No confirmed independent newsletter currently. Watch for Atlantic exit.
Keri Blakinger
ProPublica
46K
ProPublica criminal justice + book Corrections in Ink. At nonprofit independent outlet. Verify if she has own newsletter.

+ 24 additional watchlist entries across S1 and S2 sessions

04

How We Spidered & What's Left

AT Protocol  ·  2 sessions  ·  open methodology

What worked

searchActors — no auth required. Primary discovery method. Single-concept queries work; multi-word specialty searches fail silently. Best queries: "investigative reporter," "independent journalist," "climate newsletter."
getFollows graph mining — seeded from Judd Legum, Erin Reed, Amy Westervelt, Jason Koebler, Kim Kelly, David M. Perry, Aaron Rupar (S1) then Michael Hobbes and Garrett M. Graff (S2). Each yields 100 follows; filtered by bio signal + follower threshold.
getProfiles (batch) — 25 actors per call. Used for bulk follower count retrieval after candidate identification. Fast and reliable across both sessions.
Named-seed lookups (S2) — Direct handle resolution for known food/culture/science names (Soleil Ho, Patrick Wyman, Ed Yong). Essential for beats where query searches return empty arrays. Ed Yong's getFollows then surfaced an entire health/science journalism cluster.

What was blocked

searchPosts — 403 without auth. This is the key missing tool. Post-level search would unlock starter pack discovery, mentions, and thread-level signal. TrustFnd's authenticated Bluesky access is the moat here.
blueskystarterpack.com — 403. Web-accessible directory of curated packs blocked to unauthenticated requests across both sessions.
Austin Graff as DC network seed. Bluesky account essentially inactive — 37 followers, follows only 4 accounts. Not a usable seed. Alternative: Dan Froomkin getFollows (80K, DC-based, already in Atlas).

Search term performance

investigative reporter ↑↑
independent journalist ↑
climate newsletter ↑
music critic writer ↑
journalist newsletter ~
tech reporter newsletter ~
sports journalist writer ~
local news reporter ~
labor workers rights reporter
criminal justice reporter
LGBTQ queer journalist
housing urban policy
national security reporter
healthcare reporter journalist

Pattern: AT Protocol searchActors is a username/bio text match. Multi-word specialty terms fail silently. Named-seed chain → getFollows is the correct approach for underrepresented beats.

Unexplored vectors (Session 3+)

Food journalism
Soleil Ho found. Alicia Kennedy handle unresolved. Needs named-seed + getFollows chain from food community.
Authenticated search
Login unlocks searchPosts + starter pack directory. Single biggest quality leap available.
Spanish-language / AAPI
Zero non-English spidering done. Bluesky AAPI + Latine journalism ecosystem entirely unexplored.
Sports deep cuts
F1/motorsports, women's sports, MLS not mined. Defector network (Tom Ley getFollows) as best seed.
DC local layer
Dan Froomkin getFollows as DC network seed (80K, already in Atlas). Rob Pegoraro network. Local independent DC beat thin.
Judd Legum's followers
417K followers = massive unmined community. getFollowers at scale (paginated) from top Atlas seeds not yet attempted.