Katie Roof joins Business Insider as it pivots to scoop-driven journalism under new editor-in-chief Jamie Heller

Katie Roof joined Business Insider the day before this conversation aired, hired as part of a broader editorial pivot under new editor-in-chief Jamie Heller, who previously oversaw business and technology coverage at the Wall Street Journal.

The strategic shift is already showing in the numbers. Exclusive content at Business Insider has risen from 40% to 80% since Heller took over, and Roof's hire is an extension of that same push toward scoop-driven journalism. Roof is also part of Axel Springer's Global Reporters Network, meaning her reporting will appear across sister publications including Politico and The Telegraph, which Axel Springer recently acquired in the UK.

“Jamie Heller has been brought in to be the editor in chief of Business Insider where she's changing the direction towards more scoops and original content — stuff people would actually pay for. They've doubled their exclusive content. I think it used to be 40%, now it's 80%.”

On the sourcing edge

Roof's approach to breaking news has evolved as the field has gotten more competitive. Rather than chasing rumors already circulating among multiple reporters, her most productive scoops have come from testing her own theories in extended source conversations — floating scenarios like potential acquisitions or IPOs and gauging the reaction. The idea is that being first no longer comes from hearing what everyone else is hearing; it comes from asking questions no one else has thought to ask yet.

AI and the scoop business

On whether AI changes any of this, Roof's position is that human source networks remain the core asset. Most scoops don't come from deliberate leaks — sources weren't planning to say anything until a reporter started asking. An AI system can't replicate that dynamic unless someone proactively wants something planted, which she argues is closer to PR than journalism.

She's also alert to manipulation. On the question of planted valuations and manufactured deal buzz, her framework is straightforward: does the story make sense, and does the source have a reason to be misleading? Credibility, she argues, is far easier to destroy than to build.

Market tailwinds

Business Insider's bet is that the audience for technology and private markets news keeps expanding. AI has pushed stories that would have been buried in a business section onto international front pages, and reader curiosity extends well beyond the investor base directly exposed to the boom. The publication's TAM for this type of coverage is, by that logic, only getting wider.