Workshop
Staff

I’m executive editor of the Investigative Reporting Workshop and a professor at American University. I’m passionate about stories that shed light on injustice and hold power to account. 

I first learned the value of rigorous reporting from my father. He was a factory worker in Ohio who never made it through high school but learned how the world worked by devouring investigative articles in our local newspaper. 

I wrote for a string of small Midwestern newspapers, eventually joining The Kansas City Star’s celebrated projects desk. That led me to The Washington Post, where I reported for the investigative team founded by Bob Woodward, of Watergate fame. I later joined Princeton University as a Ferris Professor and went on to found and direct Princeton’s Program in Journalism. 

My reporting has ranged widely, encompassing presidential politics, political corruption, the war against terrorism, Afghan reconstruction, the federal judiciary, and drug experiments conducted on children in the developing world. Those stories led to Congressional hearings, national legislative reforms, criminal convictions, and millions of dollars in fines. 

I’ve won prizes, including three George Polk Awards. I’ve been a three-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. And I contributed to The Washington Post coverage of 9/11, for which it won a staff Pulitzer. My students have gone on to work at the New York Times, NPR and the New Yorker, and some have won Pulitzers and Polks of their own. But I’m far prouder of the positive change resulting from the stories they produced.

Over the years I’ve reported and conducted training in Europe, Africa, Asia, Latin America, and across the U.S. I’ve judged many contests and twice served on Pulitzer juries. I was a governing trustee at the Fund for Investigative Journalism and remain on FIJ’s advisory board.  

I’ve lectured widely, in person, to classes, on TV and on the radio. I’ve convened, moderated, or participated in hundreds of panels, talks, and public discussions. If you see me at one, please stop by and say hello.