Jesse Underwood McKinley[1] (born 1970) is an American journalist who as of 2020 is Albany bureau chief at The New York Times and covers the COVID-19 pandemic.
From 1994 to 1996, as a freelancer,[8] McKinley wrote the FYI column for the City Weekly section of The New York Times, where he responded to reader questions about local trivia.
[9][10] From 1996 to 1997, McKinley worked in San Francisco as a stringer for The New York Times, where he covered 1996's Proposition 209 aka California Civil Rights Initiative (CCRI),[11] the 1997 Heaven's Gate suicides,[12] and other breaking news.
In 1998, McKinley returned to New York and worked as a freelance reporter in the Culture section, where he covered Broadway[10] and wrote the "On Stage and Off" column from 1998 to 2003.
[2] In 1995, McKinley wrote the "off off Broadway" play called Quick Bright Things, which was loosely based on A Midsummer Night's Dream.