Kirsten Berg

Research Reporter

Photo of Kirsten Berg

Kirsten Berg is a research reporter at ProPublica.

Her collaborations with colleagues in the newsroom have received numerous honors, including the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, a Selden Ring Award, an Investigative Reporters and Editors Award and medal, and recognition as a finalist for the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service.

She has contributed to investigations on a range of topics, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s hobbled response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the rise and ramifications of Chinese transnational repression and organized crime, and the federal judiciary’s repeated failures to provide ethical oversight for its judges.

Prior to joining ProPublica, she was an editor at Future Tense, the deputy director of the New America Fellows Program, and a reporter at the New England Center for Investigative Reporting. She was also once an intern at ProPublica.

You can email her securely at [email protected].

Inside the Secretive World of Penile Enlargement

How a doctor’s two-decade quest to grow the penis is leaving some men desperate and disfigured.

How South Carolina Ended Up With an All-Male Supreme Court

An abortion ban struck down. The lone female justice retiring. And a majority-male legislature rallying behind the one male candidate to replace her. This is how South Carolina ended up with an all-male Supreme Court as new abortion legislation looms.

The Company Testing Air in East Palestine Homes Was Hired by Norfolk Southern. Experts Say That Testing Isn’t Enough.

“It’s almost like if you want to find nothing, you run in and run out,” says one expert.

Muzzled by DeSantis, Critical Race Theory Professors Cancel Courses or Modify Their Teaching

As fewer faculty members are protected by tenure, they’re finding it harder to resist laws that ban certain racial topics. Their students suffer the consequences.

They Called 911 for Help. Police and Prosecutors Used a New Junk Science to Decide They Were Liars.

Tracing the fallacy of 911 call analysis through the justice system, from Quantico to the courtroom.

The Globetrotting Con Man and Suspected Spy Who Met With President Trump

Tao Liu’s criminal odyssey took him from money laundering in Mexico to a massive scam in China to Trump’s exclusive New Jersey golf club. Investigators believed he may have infiltrated U.S. politics as part of a Chinese intelligence operation.

How a Chinese American Gangster Transformed Money Laundering for Drug Cartels

Xizhi Li pioneered a new method that enriched Latin American drug lords and China’s elite. A DEA investigation found the Chinese government may have been involved.

The Other Cancel Culture: How a Public University Is Bowing to a Conservative Crusade

With a rising national profile and donor base and relatively little state funding, Boise State University should be able to resist pressure by the Idaho Legislature. Instead the university, led by a liberal transplant, has repeatedly capitulated.

Building the “Big Lie”: Inside the Creation of Trump’s Stolen Election Myth

Internal emails and interviews with key participants reveal for the first time the extent to which leading advocates of the rigged election theory touted evidence they knew to be disproven, disputed or dismissed as dubious.

Even on U.S. Campuses, China Cracks Down on Students Who Speak Out

Students and scholars from China who criticize the regime in Beijing can face quick retaliation from fellow students and Chinese officials who harass their families back home. U.S. universities rarely intervene.

猎狐行动：中国海外追逃内幕

中国向海外派出秘密小组将被控经济犯罪的人带回中国，无论这些人受到的指控是否正当。这个全球性的行动让目标人物的家人充当人质，迫使移民成为间谍——本文写的是美国新泽西州一个家庭的经历。

Operation Fox Hunt: How China Exports Repression Using a Network of Spies Hidden in Plain Sight

China sends covert teams abroad to bring back people accused — justifiably or not — of financial crimes. One New Jersey family was stalked as part of a global campaign that takes families hostage and pressures immigrants to serve as spies.

6 Questions Officials Still Haven’t Answered After Weeks of Hearings on the Capitol Attack

More than 15 hours of testimony failed to answer fundamental questions about the Capitol attack. Among them: Why national security officials responded differently to BLM protesters than to Trump supporters.

“I Don’t Trust the People Above Me”: Riot Squad Cops Open Up About Disastrous Response to Capitol Insurrection

Interviews with 19 current and former officers show how failures of leadership and communication put hundreds of Capitol cops at risk and allowed rioters to get dangerously close to members of Congress.

What Parler Saw During the Attack on the Capitol

ProPublica sifted through thousands of videos taken by Parler users to create an immersive, first-person view of the Capitol riot as experienced by those who were there.

“No One Took Us Seriously”: Black Cops Warned About Racist Capitol Police Officers for Years

Allegations of racism against the Capitol Police are nothing new: Over 250 Black cops have sued the department since 2001. Some of those former officers now say it’s no surprise white nationalists were able to storm the building.

Inside the Fall of the CDC

How the world’s greatest public health organization was brought to its knees by a virus, the president and the capitulation of its own leaders, causing damage that could last much longer than the coronavirus.

Inside the Trump Administration’s Decision to Leave the World Health Organization

Despite Trump’s declared exit from the WHO, officials continued working toward reforms and to prevent withdrawal. This week, they were told they must justify any cooperation with the WHO on the grounds of national security and public health safety.

The Secret, Absurd World of Coronavirus Mask Traders and Middlemen Trying To Get Rich Off Government Money

The federal government and states have fueled an unregulated, chaotic market for masks ruled by oddballs, ganjapreneurs and a shadowy network of investors.

We’re Making Public Records Requests to Help Us Cover the Coronavirus. Tell Us What We Should Be Asking For.

Are you an expert, government employee or someone who regularly interacts with government agencies? We’re looking for those in the know to tell us what kinds of public records we should be asking for. Help us find the records that will shed light on the crisis and hold those in power to account.

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