Michael Thomas Kelly was an American journalist for The New York Times, a columnist for The Washington Post and The New Yorker, and a magazine editor for The New Republic, National Journal, and The Atlantic. He came to prominence through his reporting on the 1990–1991 Gulf War, and was well known for his political profiles and commentary. He suffered professional embarrassment for his role as senior editor in the Stephen Glass scandal at The New Republic. Kelly was killed in 2003 while covering the invasion of Iraq; he was the first US journalist to die during this war.

The New Republic is a liberal American publisher focused on domestic politics, news, culture, and the arts, with ten magazines a year and a daily online platform. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in humanitarian and moral passion and one based in an ethos of scientific analysis".