Mike Kessler

Mike Kessler is a multimedia journalist whose work has appeared in Los Angeles magazine, Outside, Denver’s 5280, Wired, The New York Times Magazine, and TakePart, among others. His work has twice been named as a finalist for the National Magazine Award (2008, Public Interest; 2012, Reporting), won or been nominated for several other awards, and anthologized in several collections, including the Best American Magazine Writing and Best American Sports Writing series. In 2020, Kessler, alongside members of ESPN’s investigative unit, won a Sports Emmy for a project he brought to the network about a former Olympian-turned-track coach who allegedly molested dozens of boys and young men. The team’s work led to the arrest of the subject, who now faces more than a dozen felony charges in Massachusetts. Kessler hosted a two-hour podcast version of the story for ESPN Investigates. From 2019 to 2021, Kessler was senior editor of investigations and special projects at the Los Angeles NPR affiliate LAist (formerly KPCC/LAist); currently he's the investigative editor at The California Newsroom, a collaborative of public media outlets through the state, with NPR as its national partner. A 2017 University of Michigan Knight-Wallace Fellow, he lives in Los Angeles, where he was born and raised.