ProPublica is thrilled to announce the addition of Jesse Coburn as a national reporter.
Coburn joins the newsroom after three years as an investigative reporter at Streetsblog NYC. His series there on the black market for temporary license plates led to enacted or proposed laws in three states as well as civil penalties and criminal investigations. For another story, Coburn built a database of one million car crashes in New York City to expose a broad racial disparity in crashes and injuries outside the city’s public schools.
Previously, Coburn was a reporter at Newsday, where his reporting on wrongdoing in Long Island local governments spurred investigations and reforms. One story revealed that a town with little affordable housing had let $1 million in federal rental assistance go unused even as thousands of people sat on waitlists for the subsidies. The story prompted a county takeover of the town's housing program.
Coburn’s reporting has received a George Polk Award, an IRE Award, a Sidney Award and a Deadline Club Award, among other distinctions, and he was a finalist for the Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting. He has also written for publications including The New York Times, The Baltimore Sun, Harper’s, Foreign Policy, Cabinet, and Hell Gate. Previously he was an editor at the German architecture magazine ARCH+. Coburn lives in Brooklyn with his wife and son.
“Jesse is a deeply entrepreneurial reporter with a history of uncovering wrongdoing in places where other reporters wouldn’t think to look,” said Nick Varchaver, a senior editor at ProPublica. “He’s got a probing intellect, knows his way around a dataset, and has a track record of achieving the sort of impact that ProPublica strives for. We couldn’t be happier to have him.”
“I’ve always admired ProPublica’s commitment to journalism that exposes injustice and holds the powerful to account,” Coburn said. “It’s an honor to join the newsroom, and I am eager to contribute reporting that advances ProPublica’s mission and serves the public interest.”
