Sydney P. Freedberg

Sydney P. Freedberg has been on the winning team for Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting three times.

Acclaim

According to Peter Schorsch of the St. PetersBlog: “Sydney has worked for some of the nation’s great newspapers, joining the Times in 1998 after 15 years with the Miami Herald (over two stints) and positions as well with the Wall Street Journal and Detroit News. [Her] work is particularly notable for the degree of difficulty in obtaining information about the most complex and under-scrutinized aspects of state government. Through her tenacity, no one has done more for the cause of freedom of information in recent years than Sydney.”^[1]

According to Vice President and Washington Bureau Chief for E. W. Scripps, Ellen Weiss: “Sydney has a strong track record of exposing injustices that otherwise may have remained hidden from public view. She is one of the nation's top investigative journalists and a fantastic addition to our national investigative team.”^[2]

Awards

Aside from being part of three Pulitzer Prize winning teams, while working at The Detroit News she received the society's general reporting award for exposing the circumstances surrounding the deaths of several Navy seamen. She received that award together with David L. Ashenfelter.^[3]

Journalism

Freedberg has worked with a number of journalistic publications. These include: The Miami Herald, The Detroit News, Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, the St. Petersburg Times and the Washington Bureau of The E.W. Scripps Company.^[4]

Education

Freedberg has a Bachelor’s in History and Literature (cum laude) from Harvard University. During her time there she was Associate Managing Editor of the Harvard Crimson. She was a John S. Knight Fellow at Stanford University.

Books

In 1994 Freedberg wrote ‘Brother Love: Murder, Money and a Messiah,’ based on her investigation of a self-proclaimed preacher who used his position to control his congregation and even convinced them to commit murder for him. It was published by the Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy on July 23, 2013.^[5]

In 2006 Freedberg (along with Ronald Henkoff, Jeff Harrington and Connie Humbug) received the Lawrence Minard Editor Award by the UCLA Anderson School of Management in the Beat Writing Category for ‘Risky Business.’^[6]

References

1. Roush, Chris. "Bloomberg hires St. Pete Times reporter". TBN. Retrieved 21 May 2015.
2. "Award-winning investigative reporter joins the Scripps Washington bureau". Scripps. Retrieved 21 May 2015.
3. "Sigma Delta Chi Lists 1981 Award Winners". New York Times. Retrieved 21 May 2015.
4. "A HAPPY NEWSROOM, FOR PETE'S SAKE". Russ Baker. Retrieved 21 May 2015.
5. "Sydney P. Freedberg Investigative Reporter". Zoom Info. Retrieved 21 May 2015.
6. "2006 Gerald Loeb Award Finalists Announced by UCLA Anderson School of Management; Myron Kandel, Retired from CNN, to Receive Lifetime Achievement Award and Lawrence Minard Editor Award goes to Ronald Henkoff of Bloomberg News". Business Wire. Retrieved 21 May 2015.