Joshua Kaplan
I’m a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter at ProPublica, where I write about the government, money and power.
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What I Cover
I cover powerful institutions and the people who are seeking to influence them, with a focus on the federal government. I’m drawn to topics where I believe that in-depth, nuanced reporting has the potential to reshape the public’s understanding and to lead to meaningful change.
In recent years, I’ve reported on issues ranging from ethics questions at the Supreme Court to the U.S. military’s withdrawal from Afghanistan.
My Background
I’ve been a reporter at ProPublica since 2020.
In 2023, my colleagues and I revealed how a set of billionaires secretly provided decades of lavish gifts and luxury travel to Supreme Court justices. Those stories won the Pulitzer Prize for public service and helped prompt the Supreme Court to adopt its first-ever code of conduct. I have also reported on the military and the U.S. State Department, the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol and misconduct by undercover police officers, among other subjects.
In addition to the Pulitzer Prize, my work has received national honors including two George Polk Awards, the Selden Ring Award, an Investigative Reporters and Editors medal and an Edward R. Murrow Award. I hold a degree in mathematics from the University of Chicago.
You can reach me via email at [email protected] or by phone, Signal or WhatsApp at 734-834-9383.
Before Mob Stormed the Capitol, Days of Security Planning Involved Cabinet Officials and President Trump
A Pentagon memo offers one version of events — six days of preparation for a rally that quickly spiraled out of control.
New York Lawmakers Demand NYPD Halt Undercover Sex Trade Stings
A dozen city and state officials also called for the disbandment of vice, the primary division that polices the sex trade; some want investigations into misconduct allegations against the unit, including withholding of evidence.
NYPD Cops Cash In on Sex Trade Arrests With Little Evidence, While Black and Brown New Yorkers Pay the Price
Some officers, driven by overtime pay, go undercover to round up as many “bodies” as they can with little evidence. Almost no one they arrest is white.
The Hospital System Sent Patients With Coronavirus Home to Die. Louisiana Legislators Are Demanding an Investigation.
The Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus called the practice of sending infected coronavirus patients home to die “disturbing” after ProPublica found that one New Orleans hospital system had done so numerous times.
Sent Home to Die
In New Orleans, hospitals sent patients infected with the coronavirus into hospice facilities or back to their families to die at home, in some cases discontinuing treatment even as relatives begged them to keep trying.
In Hard-Hit New Jersey, COVID-19 Saddles Some Small Health Departments With Crushing Workload
Secretaries are working as contact tracers. The person normally in charge of pet shops and tattoo parlors is monitoring nursing homes. And as the state reopens, workers worry duties will increase.
Early Data Shows Black People Are Being Disproportionally Arrested for Social Distancing Violations
Crowds of mostly white protesters have defied Ohio’s stay-at-home order without arrest, while in several of the state’s biggest jurisdictions, police departments have primarily arrested black people for violating the order.
Without Federal Help, New York Doctors Had to Ask Medical Supply Execs for Dialysis Supplies
The novel coronavirus, a respiratory illness, is damaging kidneys at an unexpectedly high rate, according to experts. A shortage of dialysis materials has forced New York doctors to directly lobby corporate executives for help.
Rationing Protective Gear Means Checking on Coronavirus Patients Less Often. This Can Be Deadly.
Low on essential supplies and fearing they’ll get sick, doctors and nurses told ProPublica in-person care for coronavirus patients has been scaled back. In some cases, it’s causing serious harm.
How New York City’s Emergency Ventilator Stockpile Ended Up on the Auction Block
A 2006 pandemic plan warned that New York City could be short as many as 9,500 ventilators. But the city only acquired a few hundred, which were ultimately scrapped because it couldn’t afford to maintain them.