I used to be the king of the N-S-A: No. Strings. Attached. I was single. I had no children. And I was a renter. When the discount plane fare to Japan arrived in my inbox, I flew to Tokyo on … Read more
It is fair to say that the housing beat has not traditionally been considered a plum assignment among reporters. In fact, many media outlets do not have a team dedicated to housing issues—except for real estate reporters, who typically focus … Read more
The first tactic the people hoarding money, power, and secrets will try is to befriend you. You join their side; they join yours. Everyone benefits. Perhaps you gain a new advertiser and the unpleasant story your newspaper has been poking … Read more
In the age of heightened surveillance, the need for—and threat to—watchdog journalism has intensified, with Edward Snowden’s 2013 leak of classified documents signaling what may become a new norm in national security coverage. The impact of surveillance on investigative journalism … Read more
Whistleblowers from Serbia, Bosnia, Switzerland, and the Netherlands had just shared intensely emotional stories with an international audience of journalists, activists, prosecutors, and judges. We almost lost English translation to the tears of the interpreter as a … Read more
On my way into work at Medill Watchdog for the first time, I stopped at Hanig’s Shoe Store. It was February 1, 2011, part of a three-day storm in which more than 20 inches of snow fell on the … Read more
In the fall of 2011, while researching a story on China’s business elites for The New York Times, I made a startling find: a set of corporate documents that linked the relatives of then Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao … Read more
When a Philippine investigative journalist revealed the inner workings of her nation’s Supreme Court, the country’s largest book publisher and leading distributor walked away. Read more
