“Ferguson shows the power of social media. This could have not been a story. Or it could have just been a local story. Or it could have been something that we saw only from a distance, through the usual filters. Instead, it gathered steam.”

American humorist and newspaper columnist

Alexandra Petri is an American humorist and newspaper columnist. She is known for her satirical writing, and in 2024 she received the Thurber Prize for American Humor. In 2010, she became the youngest person to have a column in The Washington Post. She later ran the paper’s ComPost blog and worked with Dana Milbank there before joining The Atlantic in May 2025. Her satire has drawn public attention, including a 2017 piece about Donald Trump that was miscategorized as news and included in a White House press briefing. She was named to Forbes 30 Under 30 in 2018.