ProPublica announced Friday that Michael Grabell will be promoted from reporter to senior editor for its Local Reporting Network.
Grabell was one of ProPublica’s first staffers, joining in 2008 from The Dallas Morning News. As a reporter, he wrote stories about economic issues, labor, immigration and, more recently, the food safety system. He expanded his reporting on the 2008-09 economic stimulus into a book, “Money Well Spent?” Most recently, Grabell edited “Invisible Schools,” a collaboration with The Seattle Times co-authored by Lulu Ramadan, a distinguished fellow with the Local Reporting Network.
Grabell has won two George Polk Awards and has twice been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize — in 2021, as part of a team covering COVID-19, and in 2019, with Ginger Thompson and Topher Sanders, for stories that helped expose the impact of family separations at the border and abuse in shelters for immigrant children. The latter work also won a Peabody Award and was a finalist for the Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting.
“Michael is a world-class journalist who has done some of ProPublica’s finest reporting since our inception,” said Charles Ornstein, managing editor, local. “We’re so thrilled to welcome him in this new role and are excited for him to work with our local partners as they pursue ambitious accountability journalism.”
“Since joining ProPublica, I’ve had the opportunity to travel the country and parts of the world to tell stories that spotlight critical issues and amplify voices that are too often ignored,” Grabell said. “I’m excited to use that experience to help other reporters do their best work and fill the need for more investigative journalism in our communities.”
