Deborah Nelson

Deborah Nelson is a Pulitzer prize-winning freelance journalist at Reuters and the Associate Professor of Investigative Reporting at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism[1] at the University of Maryland.

Nelson earned her B.S. in Journalism from Northern Illinois University and her J.D. from the DePaul University College of Law in 1987. Prior to joining the faculty at the University of Maryland in 2006, she was the Washington investigations editor for the Los Angeles Times,[2] the national investigative team reporter for The Washington Post,[3] and a reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times.

In 1997, Nelson won the Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting[4][5] for her investigative work for the Seattle Times, exposing “widespread corruption and inequities in the federally-sponsored housing program for Native Americans, which inspired much-needed reforms.”[4]

In 2008, she received critical acclaim[6] for her book, The War Behind Me: Vietnam Veterans Confront the Truth about U.S. War Crimes, which investigates declassified Army papers on Vietnam-era war crimes and uncovers the lives of soldiers who were witness to the crimes.

Nelson currently teaches courses on investigative reporting and media law and is on the advisory boards of the Fund for Investigative Journalism and the Investigative Reporting Workshop.

Investigative Journalism

As an investigative journalist,[7] Nelson has covered a wide range of topics, centered on exposing problems in the environment, the health industry, income inequality, and human rights violations. Her news publications also have addressed issues of misconduct in the gene therapy field and medical research in developing countries.

Pulitzer Prize

In 1997, Deborah Nelson shared the Pulitzer Prize with Eric Nalder and Alex Tizon for their The Seattle Times series that identified critical problems in the federal government's Indian Housing Program.[8][9] The series, titled Tribal housing: From Deregulation to Disgrace, exposes that "Across the nation - in tribe after tribe, state after state - the Indian-housing program is riddled with fraud, abuse and mismanagement."[10] The series concludes with a five-point list of recommendations for a more effective tribal-housing program, which include the strict enforcement of rules, a mandate that requires that the bulk of federal funding to be channeled to low-income households that need assistance the most, and the creation of constraints that will prevent disproportionately large expenditures on small families.[11]

Nelson's series was crucial in initiating reform in the management of the tribal housing program.

Additionally, Nelson also co-edited[12] Pulitzer Prize-winning series for The Washington Post, which covered the death of 229 children [13] in the District of Columbia, and for the Los Angeles Times on the death of 45 Marine pilots in Harrier jet accidents.[14]

Selected Awards in Journalism[15]

  • National Academies of Sciences Communication Award, 2015, "Water's Edge: The Crisis of Rising Sea Levels," Reuters
  • Society of Professional Journalists Sigma Delta Chi Award, 2014, "Water's Edge: The Crisis of Rising Sea Levels," Reuters
  • National Press Club Award for Consumer Journalism, 2015, "Water's Edge: The Crisis of Rising Sea Levels," Reuters
  • Investigative Reporters and Editors 2013 Philip Meyer Award, second place, “The Unequal State of America,” Reuters
  • Sigma Delta Chi Award for Investigative Reporting, 2001, “Body Hunters,” The Washington Post
  • Overseas Press Club of America Award for business reporting, 2001, “Body Hunters,” The Washington Post
  • American Association for the Advancement of Science Award, 2000, “Gene Therapy,” The Washington Post
  • John B. Oakes Award for Distinguished Environmental Journalism, 1999, “Trading Away the West,” The Seattle Times
  • Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting, 1997, “Tribal Housing: From Deregulation to Disgrace,” The Seattle Times
  • Women in Communications Clarion Award, 1997, “Tribal Housing: From Deregulation to Disgrace,” The Seattle Times
  • National Housing Journalism Award, 1991, “The Slum Brokers.”

Recent Publications

  • The War Behind Me: Vietnam Veterans Confront the Truth About U.S. War Crimes (Basic Books; 2008).
  • “Coastal Flooding has surged in U.S., Reuters finds,” the first article in a series on rising sea levels, Reuters (Jul. 10, 2014) with Ryan McNeil. Also published online by The New York Times, The Weather Channel and news outlets worldwide.
  • “The Unequal State of America: Redistributing Up,” the first article in a series on income inequality, Reuters (Dec. 18, 2012) with Himanshu Ojha. Also published online by The Atlantic, The Chicago Tribune, The Baltimore Sun, The Sun-Sentinel, NBC News.
  • “The Cruelest Show on Earth,” an article on federal oversight of circus elephants, Mother Jones magazine and online (Nov. – Dec. 2011).
  • “Vietnam: The War Crimes Files,” a series of articles on government cover-up of U.S. war crimes in—Vietnam, The Los Angeles Times (Aug. 6 and 20, 2006) with Nick Turse.
  • “Body Hunters,” a series on medical research in developing countries, The Washington Post (Dec. 17 – 22, 2000) with a team of reporters.
  • “Gene Therapy,” thirty articles on conflicts of interest and scientific misconduct in the gene therapy field, The Washington Post (Sept. 1999 – Nov. 2000) with Rick Weiss.
  • “Trading Away the West,” a series on federal land exchanges, The Seattle Times (Sept. 27 – Oct 2, 1998) with Jim Simon, Danny Westneat and Eric Nalder.
  • “Tribal Housing: From Deregulation to Disgrace,” a series on widespread problems in the federal Indian housing program, The Seattle Times (Dec. 1 – 5, 1996) with Eric Nalder and Alex Tizon.
  • “The Wenatchee Sex Crime Case: Evidence on Trial,” a series on police misconduct in investigating child sexual abuse, The Seattle Times (Nov. 26 – 27, 1995) with Marla Williams, Duff Wilson and Thomas Haines.

References

  1. ↑ "Colleges Monitor, Restrict Athletes on Social Media". American Journalism Review.
  2. ↑ George Kennedy; Daryl R. Moen (2007). What Good is Journalism?: How Reporters and Editors are Saving America's Way of Life. University of Missouri Press. pp. 126–. ISBN 978-0-8262-1730-1.
  3. ↑ Deborah Blum Professor of Journalism University of Wisconsin-Madison; Mary Knudson Professor of Journalism University of Wisconsin-Madison; Robin Marantz Henig Professor of Journalism University of Wisconsin-Madison (27 July 2005). A Field Guide for Science Writers : The Official Guide of the National Association of Science Writers: The Official Guide of the National Association of Science Writers. Oxford University Press. pp. 121–. ISBN 978-0-19-803902-0.
  4. 1 2 Burns, Hilliary. "The 1997 Pulitzer Prize Winners Investigative Reporting". pulitzerprize.org
  5. ↑ "Pulitzer-winning women: This is what happens when you win journalism's top prize". BizWomen
  6. ↑ https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/14/books/review/McKelvey-t.html?_r=0
  7. ↑ Jon Marshall (30 January 2011). Watergate's Legacy and the Press: The Investigative Impulse. Northwestern University Press. pp. 163–. ISBN 978-0-8101-2719-7.
  8. ↑ Leonard Mogel (2 January 2000). Careers in Communications and Entertainment. Leonard Mogel. pp. 99–. ISBN 978-0-9829596-0-2.
  9. ↑ Heinz Dietrich Fischer; Erika J. Fischer (1 January 2002). Complete Biographical Encyclopedia of Pulitzer Prize Winners, 1917-2000: Journalists, Writers and Composers on Their Ways to the Coveted Awards. Walter de Gruyter. pp. 176–. ISBN 978-3-598-30186-5.
  10. ↑ http://www.pulitzer.org/archives/5973
  11. ↑ http://www.pulitzer.org/archives/5994
  12. ↑ http://magazine.wesleyan.edu/2003/05/04/chasing-the-widow-maker/
  13. ↑ http://www.johntemple.net/2009/07/pulitzers-lost-what-cost-first-in.html, http://www.pulitzer.org/works/2002-Investigative-Reporting
  14. ↑ http://www.pulitzer.org/archives/6722
  15. ↑ http://merrill.umd.edu/about-merrill/staff-faculty/deborah-nelson/
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.