D.C. Journalist’s Nightmare Song
by Parker Molloy
Jael Holzman spent seven years as a congressional reporter, breaking important stories about Freedom of Information Act violations, PFAS contamination cover-ups, and conflicts of interest at the highest levels of government at Roll Call, Politico, and Axios. But after coming out as trans, she began to see cracks in the profession she’d believed was her calling.
Today Holzman is a senior reporter at Heatmap News, where she authors “The Fight,” a newsletter covering local conflicts around renewable energy projects. She’s also the frontwoman of Ekko Astral, the Washington D.C. punk band whose debut album, pink balloons, was named Pitchfork’s #1 rock album of 2024. The band’s latest single, “horseglue,” is a searing indictment of congressional journalism. She wrote it on her iPhone notes app in the Senate basement tunnels while trapped in what she calls the “TMZ nerd” culture of Capitol Hill press scrums.
The song captures the dissociative experience of watching reporters obsess over sensational tabloid moments while ignoring urgent issues like food insecurity, the sabotage of energy and environment coverage, and the systematic use of quotation marks to diminish marginalized voices in favor of platforming authoritarian perspectives.
“‘horseglue’ was this little mental game I would play, almost like a tic, like a fidget spinner in my head,” she told me.
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