Laura Sullivan

{{Infobox writer

| name =

| image = File:Laura Sullivan at Houston Convention Center after Hurricane Harvey.jpg

| alt =

| caption = Laura Sullivan interviewing a FEMA manager after Hurricane Harvey in 2017 at the Houston Convention Center

| birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1974}}

| birth_place = San Francisco, California, U.S.

| occupation = Investigative reporter, correspondent

| years_active = 1996–present

| known_for =

| notable_works =

| education = Northwestern University

}}

Laura Sullivan (born about 1974) is a correspondent and investigative reporter for National Public Radio (NPR).{{cite web |url=https://www.npr.org/people/4624985/laura-sullivan |title=Laura Sullivan Correspondent, National Desk |website=NPR |accessdate=2010-12-02 |quote=Laura Sullivan has been on NPR's National Desk since December of 2004.... was born and raised in San Francisco...}} Her investigations air regularly on Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and other NPR programs. She is also an on-air correspondent for the PBS show Frontline. Sullivan's work specializes in shedding light on some of the country's most disadvantaged people. She is one of NPR's most decorated journalists, with three Peabody Awards, three Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards, and more than a dozen other prestigious national awards.{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/people/4624985/laura-sullivan|title=Laura Sullivan|website=NPR.org}}

Early life and education

Sullivan graduated from Lick-Wilmerding High School in San Francisco, California, and the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. In 1996, Sullivan and two fellow university seniors expanded a class assignment{{cite news |url=http://www.northwestern.edu/magazine/northwestern/spring99/trio.htm |accessdate=2010-12-02 |title=Trio of Angels: Three students help free four death row inmates |date=Spring 1999 |work=Northwestern alumni magazine |authorlink=Laurie Aucoin |first=Laurie |last=Aucoin}} that ultimately freed four men (Ford Heights Four) who had been wrongfully convicted of a 1978 murder in Chicago's South Side; two were death-row inmates.{{cite news |accessdate=2010-12-02 |date=July 29, 1996 |volume=46 |number=5 |title=Class Action |authorlink=Bill Hewitt (journalist) |first=Bill |last=Hewitt |url=http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20141892,00.html |work=People}} The case was one of several that led to a moratorium on capital punishment in Illinois.{{cite news |work=Chicago Tribune |date=January 13, 2003 |title=Life Changing course; Student investigations helped lead to Ryan's sweeping clemency|page=3 |first=Jimmy |last=Greenfield|title-link=George Ryan }} Sullivan wrote about the project, which won a special citation from Investigative Reporters and Editors,{{cite web |url=http://www.ire.org/resourcecenter/contest/past/1996.html |title=IRE Contest | the IRE Awards | Past IRE Awards |accessdate=2009-02-05 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081127092221/http://www.ire.org/resourcecenter/contest/past/1996.html |archivedate=2008-11-27 }} in an essay for the Sunday June 27, 1999 edition of the Baltimore Sun.

Career

=2000s=

Before coming to NPR in 2004, Sullivan covered the United States Department of Justice, the FBI, and terrorism from the Baltimore Sun{{'}}s Washington, D.C. bureau.

In 2007, Sullivan won the 2007 Daniel Schorr Journalism Prize.{{cite web|url=http://www.wbur.org/inside/about/schorrprize/winner2007.asp|title=Not Found|website=www.wbur.org|access-date=2009-02-05|archive-date=2008-10-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081007092450/http://www.wbur.org/inside/about/schorrprize/winner2007.asp|url-status=dead}} and her first Gracie for her series "Life in Solitary Confinement".{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5584841|title=Life in Solitary Confinement|website=NPR |publisher=}}

Her 2007 news series investigating sexual assault of Native American women{{cite web |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12203114 |title=Rape Cases On Indian Lands Go Uninvestigated |first=Laura |last=Sullivan |website=NPR |authorlink=Laura Sullivan |accessdate=2010-12-02 |date=July 25, 2007}} won her first duPont.{{cite web|title=2009 duPont Winners |accessdate=2010-12-02 |quote=NPR & Laura Sullivan: All Things Considered: Sexual Abuse of Native American Women |url=http://www.journalism.columbia.edu/page/412/4 |publisher=Columbia School of Journalism |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120319152709/http://www.journalism.columbia.edu/page/412/4 |archivedate=2012-03-19 }} It also won the DART Award for Excellence in coverage of Trauma{{cite web |url=http://www.dartcenter.org/dartaward/2008/radio/wnr/00.php |title=Sexual Abuse of Native American Women |accessdate=2009-02-05 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080506033218/http://www.dartcenter.org/dartaward/2008/radio/wnr/00.php |archivedate=2008-05-06 }} for outstanding reporting, an RTNDA Edward R Murrow Award for Investigative Reporting and her second Gracie Award for American Women in Radio and Television.{{cite web|url=http://www.awrt.org/awards/gracies.html |title=The 34th Annual Gracie Awards |accessdate=2010-01-19 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090202183201/http://www.awrt.org/awards/gracies.html |archivedate=2009-02-02 }}

In 2008, her series "36 Years of Solitary: Murder, Death and Justice on Angola"{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=96030547|title=Doubts Arise About 1972 Angola Prison Murder|website=NPR |publisher=}} earned Sullivan her first Peabody, an Investigative Reporters and Editors award, and a Robert F. Kennedy Award for investigative reporting.

=2010s=

In 2010, Sullivan's three part series Bonding For Profit: Behind the Bail Bond System{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2010/01/21/122725771/Bail-Burden-Keeps-U-S-Jails-Stuffed-With-Inmates|title=Bail Burden Keeps U.S. Jails Stuffed With Inmates|website=NPR |publisher=}} examined the deep and costly flaws of bail bonding in the United States. In addition to her second Peabody and duPont, the series was also honored by the Scripps Howard Foundation,{{cite web |url=http://scripps.com/foundation/news/releases/11march18.html |title=Scripps Howard Foundation: What's New |accessdate=2012-04-11 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120324120617/http://scripps.com/foundation/news/releases/11march18.html |archivedate=2012-03-24 }} the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government{{Cite web |url=http://www.hks.harvard.edu/presspol/news_events/archive/2011/goldsmith_awards_03-07-11.html |title=2011 Goldsmith Awards - Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy |access-date=2011-05-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110506020659/http://www.hks.harvard.edu/presspol/news_events/archive/2011/goldsmith_awards_03-07-11.html |archive-date=2011-05-06 |url-status=dead }} and the American Bar Association.{{cite web|url=http://www.abanow.org/2011/05/american-bar-association-announces-silver-gavel-awards-for-media-and-the-arts/|title=ABA News|website=www.abanow.org|access-date=2011-05-24|archive-date=2011-08-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110815180249/http://www.abanow.org/2011/05/american-bar-association-announces-silver-gavel-awards-for-media-and-the-arts/|url-status=dead}}

In 2011, Sullivan produced a series on the state of foster care for Native American children{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2011/10/25/141672992/native-foster-care-lost-children-shattered-families|title=Native Foster Care: Lost Children, Shattered Families|website=NPR |publisher=}} focusing largely on alleged wrongdoing in the state of South Dakota and garnering her a third Peabody{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/about/press/2012/040412.NPRWinsPeabodyAwards.html|title=NPR Wins Peabody Awards for Coverage of Arab Spring and Investigation Into Native Foster Care|website=www.npr.org}} and her second Robert F. Kennedy award for investigative reporting among other awards.

Also in 2011, Sullivan won her second commendation from Investigative Reporters and Editors for her two-part series{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130833741|title=Prison Economics Helped Drive Immigration Law|website=NPR |publisher=}} examining the origin of the Arizona SB 1070 immigration law.

On August 9, 2013, NPR's ombudsman released an analysis of Sullivan's South Dakota series that concluded the series was "deeply flawed" and "should not have been aired as it was."{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/blogs/ombudsman/2013/08/09/186943929/s-dakota-indian-foster-care-1-investigative-storytelling-gone-awry|title=S. Dakota Indian Foster Care 1: Investigative Storytelling Gone Awry|website=NPR |date=9 August 2013 |publisher=|last1=Schumacher-Matos |first1=Edward }} However, NPR stood by the series and called the ombudsman's report "unorthodox, the sourcing selective, fact-gathering uneven and the conclusions, subjective or without foundation."{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2013/08/09/210615253/editors-note|title=Editors' Note|website=NPR |date=9 August 2013 |publisher=}} Two subsequent reports, one by a coalition of nine Lakota tribes,{{cite web |url=http://www.docs.lakotalaw.org//Watching-the-Watchdog.pdf |title=Archived copy |accessdate=2013-12-11 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140402165245/http://docs.lakotalaw.org/Watching-the-Watchdog.pdf |archivedate=2014-04-02 }} and another by the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform,{{cite web |url=http://www.nccpr.org/reports/NPRombudsman.pdf |title=Archived copy |accessdate=2013-12-11 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140327111532/http://www.nccpr.org/reports/NPRombudsman.pdf |archivedate=2014-03-27 }} reviewed the ombudsman's report and found the NPR series was sound. In May 2015, a federal judge ruled in summary judgment in favor of South Dakota's tribes finding that the State of South Dakota and its Department of Social Services had "failed to protect Indian parents' fundamental rights."{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/03/31/396664863/federal-judge-says-south-dakota-officials-violated-native-american-families-righ|title=Federal Judge Says South Dakota Officials Violated Native American Families' Rights|website=NPR |publisher=}}

In May 2016, Sullivan collaborated with the PBS series Frontline as a correspondent for an hour long documentary examining the profit-driven nature of the insurance business after disasters. Prior to this, Sullivan had worked on other investigations in disasters{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/series/377506201/special-report-on-the-american-red-cross|title=Special Report: The American Red Cross|website=NPR |publisher=}} into the American Red Cross delving into the charity's finances and its performance after the Haiti earthquake and Hurricane Sandy. Those stories were honored with Sullivan's second Goldsmith Award{{cite web|url=https://shorensteincenter.org/goldsmith-awards/investigative-reporting-prize/previous-winners-finalists/|title=Previous Winners and Finalists - Shorenstein Center|publisher=|access-date=2017-02-06|archive-date=2017-07-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170711141926/https://shorensteincenter.org/goldsmith-awards/investigative-reporting-prize/previous-winners-finalists/|url-status=dead}} from the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University and her third commendation{{cite web|url=http://ire.org/awards/ire-awards/winners/2015-ire-award-winners/#.WJjK7lMrKUk|title=Investigative Reporters and Editors - 2015 IRE Award winners|first=Investigative Reporters and Editors|last=Inc.|website=IRE|access-date=2017-02-06|archive-date=2019-10-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191030222250/https://ire.org/awards/ire-awards/winners/2015-ire-award-winners/#.WJjK7lMrKUk|url-status=dead}} from Investigative Reporters and Editors.

Sullivan continued to collaborate with Frontline as a correspondent on five more films, Poverty, Politics and Profit,{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/poverty-politics-and-profit/|title=Poverty, Politics and Profit|website=PBS |publisher=}} which examined the billions spent housing the poor, and Blackout in Puerto Rico,{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/blackout-in-puerto-rico/|title=Blackout in Puerto Rico|website=PBS |publisher=}} which investigated the federal response, Wall Street and years of neglect on the island in the wake of Hurricane Maria. Blackout in Puerto Rico earned the team the 2019 Gerald Loeb Award for Video.{{Cite press release |title=UCLA Anderson School of Management Announces 2019 Gerald Loeb Award Winners |date=June 28, 2019 |publisher=UCLA Anderson School of Management |url=https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ucla-anderson-school-of-management-announces-2019-gerald-loeb-award-winners-300877656.html |last1=Trounson |first1=Rebecca |access-date=October 2, 2019 |website=PR Newswire}}

Other Frontlines she was involved with include Trump's Trade Wars in 2019,{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/trumps-trade-war/|title=Trump's Trade War|website=PBS }} Plastic Wars {{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/plastic-wars/|title=Plastic Wars|website=PBS }} in 2020 and The Hospital Divide {{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/the-healthcare-divide|title=The Healthcare Divide |website=PBS }} in 2021, which was a finalist for the Peabody Award.{{cite web | url=https://peabodyawards.com/awards/nominees/ | title=Nominees }}

In 2022, Sullivan won her third duPont award for her podcast Waste Land and series airing on Planet Money and NPR in partnership with Frontline which investigated "How Big Oil Misled The Public Into Believing Plastic Would Be Recycled" unearthing internal records from the oil industry.{{cite web | url=https://www.npr.org/2020/09/11/897692090/how-big-oil-misled-the-public-into-believing-plastic-would-be-recycled | title=How Big Oil Misled the Public into Believing Plastic Would be Recycled | website=NPR.org }}{{cite web | url=https://dupont.org/watch | title=2022 Winners }} The series also investigated how oil companies evaded regulation for 40 years over spilling billions of plastic pellets into the environment.{{cite web | url=https://www.npr.org/2020/12/22/946716058/big-oil-evaded-regulation-and-plastic-pellets-kept-spilling | title=Big Oil Evaded Regulation and Plastic Pellets Kept Spilling | website=NPR.org }} In 2022, citing NPR's investigation, California Attorney General Rob Bonta opened an investigation into the actions of the oil and plastic industry saying it took part in "an aggressive campaign to deceive the public, perpetuating a myth that recycling can solve the plastics crisis." 2021 Peabody Award nominated for her work reporting on the inequalities in the American healthcare system exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.