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Michael Zelenko on Muck Rack

Michael Zelenko

Verified
New York
As seen in: The Atlantic, Medium, OneZero, The Verge, VICE, Flipboard, Pocket, The FADER, Rest of World
Covers:  culture, film, interviews, profiles, music
Senior Editor, Tech at @theatlantic. Previously at @restofworld, @ozm/@medium, @verge.

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Michael Zelenko’s Journalist Portfolio

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No Concessions: Dirty Wars, Shady Drones and Tapped Phones

No Concessions: Dirty Wars, Shady Drones and Tapped Phones

Wednesday's headline news that the NSA was collecting the phone records of millions of U.S. citizens elicited…

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No Concessions: Director James Marsh on Shadow Dancer and the Creative Power of Wagner

No Concessions: Director James Marsh on Shadow Dancer and the Creative Power of Wagner

Earlier this week, I strolled through the summer heat that's recently cracked over New York to meet Academy A…

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The Birth of Phone Hacking & How It Set the Stage for the News Corp. Scandal

The Birth of Phone Hacking & How It Set the Stage for the News Corp. Scandal

On March 21st, 2002, a 13-year-old girl name Milly Dowler mysteriously disappeared on her way home from schoo…

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The Rise, Fall, and Resurrection of Bitcoin, the World's Most Enigmatic Currency

The Rise, Fall, and Resurrection of Bitcoin, the World's Most Enigmatic Currency

IT'S FRIDAY afternoon on a cold winter's day in New York and the city is swathed in a blanket of gray felt cl…

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Photographer Daniel Arnold on His Return to Instagram & His Scariest Confrontation

Photographer Daniel Arnold on His Return to Instagram & His Scariest Confrontation

A warm beanie pulled snuggly over his head, the bushy-bearded photographer Daniel Arnold takes a seat on the …

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Noomi Rapace on 'Dead Man Down,' Her Real-Life Scars, & Sweden's Dark Side

Noomi Rapace on 'Dead Man Down,' Her Real-Life Scars, & Sweden's Dark Side

Sitting in the back room of a retail space in New York's bubbly SoHo neighborhood, Noomi Rapace gives off an …

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Articles

The Filipino virtual assistants behind LinkedIn’s “thought leadership” content mill

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By Michael Beltran, Michael Zelenko Verified
| Rest of World Verified
In the spring of 2025, the CEO of a European childcare startup posted a brief write-up about the qualities of a good leader on their LinkedIn page. Dozens of executives responded with comments like “Beautifully said,” “Leadership isn’t about titles. It’s about kindness,” and “Leadership is about action, influence, and integrity, not titles.” LinkedIn is peppered with posts like these. But in this case, none of the executives were personally involved with the exchange.
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Bangladesh’s gig workers are stuck in gas lines as Iran-U.S. war strains fuel supply

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By Jesmin Papri, Michael Zelenko Verified
| Rest of World Verified
On a recent Saturday evening, a line of motorcycles stretched from a gas station in Dhaka. The queue snaked along the road for kilometers, its end out of sight. In the late afternoon heat, delivery and ride-hailing drivers leaned against their bikes, wiping sweat from their faces. Some scrolled through their phones; others waited in silence for fuel that might or might not arrive. Among them was 25-year-old Rubel Malita.
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In the Gulf, GPS jamming leaves delivery drivers navigating blind

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By Divsha Bhat, Michael Zelenko Verified
| Rest of World Verified
As war raged across the Persian Gulf in the first week of March, delivery driver Saeed Ahmed continued making deliveries in Dubai. Navigating down Al Asayel street, the 32-year-old driver for Lulu Hypermarket followed the blue navigation line on his phone as it guided him to a customer. Then, without warning, the route on his map shifted. The street he was on became invisible. Ahmed pulled over and called the customer. The address was correct. The map was not.
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