"[10] After graduating from Northwestern University, Jackson began his career as a reporter at Slate before joining The Atlantic in 2010 as an editor to oversee tech coverage with Alexis Madrigal and veteran correspondent James Fallows.
[16] He would be named to Folio:'s 30 under 30 list again in 2017, with editors writing that, "with limited resources, Jackson has made Pacific Standard a must-read for those interested in working toward forward-looking solutions to social and environmental problems.
[29] In the award citation, the ASME judges wrote that, "sensitively paced and complemented by elegant typography, Francesco Zizola's photographs of migrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean combine a strong visual perspective with a powerful narrative voice.
"[30] Jackson was a finalist two years later, in 2019, for the National Magazine Award in Essays and Criticism[31] for Terese Marie Mailhot's story about surviving racism as a Native writer, "Silence Breaking Woman."
At Pacific Standard, he argued for radical transparency around editorial decisions in newsrooms[32] and promoted the importance of strong relationships with freelance writers, leading the magazine to be named one of the best places to pitch story ideas.