On January 18, 1990, Mayor Marion Barry was caught smoking crack at D.C.’s Vista Hotel. The author was one of the first reporters on the scene. He interviewed guests, staff, anyone he could find. Then he got a room, called his regular strawbery, and got high himself.

A talented young chef loses control.

A profile of reporter Jason Leopold, who has reinvented himself after journalistic scandal by becoming what he calls a “FOIA terrorist.”

Living without your left arm.

How the Newtown Bee covered Sandy Hook.

An essay on life as “the first person whose global humiliation was driven by the Internet.”

“Places like the New York Times, Le Monde and the Washington Post are not given to elevating editors—of any gender—who would accept anything other than the highest of standards. As in tough, demanding, challenging. But there’s no doubt that many find this off-putting and threatening from a certain kind of woman. Like me.”

How the famed war photographer covered D-Day.

The first profile of the disgraced journalist.

A history of the celebrity profile.

The undoing of Tina Brown.

An interview with Barry Diller about Aereo and the past, present and future of TV.

Previously: Vanessa Grigoriadis on the Longform Podcast.

“Every Sunday at my house … we watched The Ed Sullivan Show…. Whether we enjoyed it or not. That was my first lesson in show business. I don’t think anybody in the house particularly enjoyed it. We just watched it. Maybe that’s the purpose of television. You just turn it on and watch it whether you want to or not.”

The secretive group that owns the venerable magazine.

James Reston’s problematic proximity to the powerful.

The unmuzzling of Canadian journalism.

A surprising trip into the propaganda machine.

Inside BuzzFeed’s adorable animal machine.

Andrew Ross Sorkin’s intimate coverage of Wall Street.

An essay on how to turn a sizable book advance into a sizable debt.

PLAYBOY: Is it possible you set a lower value on privacy than most people do?

DENTON: I don't think people give a fuck, actually.

Over the course of 25 years, he’s repeatedly toyed with the idea of running for president and now, maybe, governor of New York. With all but his closest apostles finally tired of the charade, even the Donald himself has to ask, what’s the point? On the plane and by the pool with the man who will not be king.

The dissolution of Rupert Murdoch and Wendi Deng’s marriage amidst evidence of her affairs with Tony Blair and Eric Schmidt.

Fifty years after Joseph Mitchell published “Joe Gould’s Secret” in The New Yorker, one last question about Gould—the identity of his anonymous benefactor—is answered.

An inteview with the Saturday Night Live producer.

Previously: The Longform Guide to SNL.