The Atlantic

The Atlantic is an American monthly magazine founded in 1857 in Boston, originally as a literary and abolitionist journal. Now owned by Emerson Collective (Laurene Powell Jobs's philanthropic organisation), it publishes long-form journalism and political commentary reaching tens of millions of readers, with a tradition of high-stakes analytical reporting on US Foreign Policy and a HQ in Washington, DC.

During the 2026 Iran conflict, The Atlantic broke significant diplomatic intelligence: it reported that President Donald Trump had agreed to speak directly with Iran's interim governing council, revealing a White House channel operating in parallel to Iran's public rejections. The outlet also provided early economic context as Brent Crude breached $110 per barrel and covered the Oman back-channel as the primary conduit before Pakistan took over. On Russia-Ukraine, The Atlantic reported on the disbanding of the KleptoCapture task force and tracked the degradation of anti-Russia legal enforcement infrastructure across both the Ukraine and Europe topics.

The Atlantic occupies an unusual editorial position among US outlets: it publishes scoops that contradict the official narrative, reaches a readership of senior policymakers and foreign capitals, and has established a track record of reporting White House back-channels before governments acknowledge them. For Lowdown's multi-topic readership, it is one of a small number of US publications whose single-story scoops move diplomacy.