ProPublica announced that Julia Longoria, Gabrielle Berbey and Sabby Robinson have been hired to develop and produce the organization’s new podcast alongside host Jessica Lussenhop and executive producer Katherine Wells.
Longoria joins ProPublica as a senior producer. She was most recently the host and editorial director at Vox’s “Unexplainable,” where she wrote and hosted “Good Robot,” a four-part series about artificial intelligence. Prior to her time at Vox, she was the host and managing editor of “More Perfect,” a spinoff of WNYC’s “Radiolab” about the Supreme Court, and co-created and hosted “The Experiment,” The Atlantic’s flagship weekly show and an Apple podcast of the year. At The New York Times, she piloted special editions of “The Daily” and launched “Rabbit Hole,” a narrative series about what the internet is doing to us. She began her career at local NPR stations in her hometown of Miami and in New York City, where she won an Edward R. Murrow Award for her team’s reporting. Her work has also been featured on “Radiolab,” the BBC, “Planet Money,” “Marketplace” and PRI’s “The World.”
Berbey is an audio reporter and producer who has worked on shows for outlets including Vox, WNYC, PBS FRONTLINE and The Atlantic. At Vox, she produced news and politics coverage for its flagship daily news and radio show, “Today, Explained,” and a series on AI. At WNYC, she reported and produced stories about the Supreme Court for “More Perfect,” including leading the show’s coverage on abortion bans. Before covering the Supreme Court, she reported and produced national news stories and led reporting on a series about the meatpacking industry for “The Experiment.” Her award-winning reporting on the experience of pregnancy in wartime Gaza aired on “Reveal” from the Center for Investigative Reporting. Her other reporting work has been featured on NPR, “Planet Money,” “The New Yorker Radio Hour” and “99% Invisible,” among others. Berbey got her start in journalism at PBS FRONTLINE, where she produced the investigative audio series “The FRONTLINE Dispatch.” She joined ProPublica as a producer in January.
Robinson joins as a producer from The Washington Post, where she spent five years on “Post Reports.” She produced conversations with Post journalists around major news events and original reporting from the newsroom, and she led long-term narrative and investigative series. Those include “The Diddy Trial,” which took listeners inside the courtroom during the trial of Sean Combs, and “Surviving to Graduation,” a three-part series on gun violence that won a 2023 Peabody Award. She also produced and contributed reporting to “Broken Doors,” an investigative podcast on no-knock warrants that was a 2023 Pulitzer Prize finalist and an RFK Journalism Award winner. Robinson led production on a collaboration with YR Media featuring a series of commentaries by teens about evolving ideas and perspectives on race and identity, which won a 2022 Gracie Award. Before joining the Post in April 2021, she produced investigations and audio documentaries for APM Reports’ podcast “Educate.”
“Julia, Sabby and Gabrielle each have an impressive track record of combining editorial rigor with creative ambition,” Wells said. “Along with Jessica, this team is going to help ProPublica reach new audiences in a powerful way.”
