Ava Kofman
Ava Kofman was a reporter on ProPublica’s national desk.
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Ava Kofman was a reporter on ProPublica’s national desk. She joined the newsroom in January 2019 after working as a contributing writer at The Intercept, where she covered technology and artificial intelligence. Her reporting and essays have appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, The New York Review of Books and n+1, among other publications. In 2021, she reported with colleagues on toxic air pollution across the United States. The team’s examination of the country’s “Sacrifice Zones,” which helped spur several reforms, was a finalist for the Goldsmith Prize and a National Magazine Award for Public Interest. Kofman’s 2022 investigation of the hospice industry prompted congressional hearings and policy changes. It received the 2023 Hillman Prize for Magazine Journalism, a National Press Club Award and the Barlett and Steele Award for Outstanding Young Journalist. Kofman is a two-time Livingston Finalist, and her work has also been honored by the Scripps Howard Foundation, the Association of Health Care Journalists, and the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing.
The Hate Store: Amazon’s Self-Publishing Arm Is a Haven for White Supremacists
The company gives extremists and neo-Nazis banned from other platforms unprecedented access to a mainstream audience — and even promotes their books.
Doctors Are Hoarding Unproven Coronavirus Medicine by Writing Prescriptions for Themselves and Their Families
Pharmacists told ProPublica that they are seeing unusual and fraudulent prescribing activity as doctors stockpile unproven coronavirus drugs endorsed by President Donald Trump.
Facebook Ads Can Still Discriminate Against Women and Older Workers, Despite a Civil Rights Settlement
New research and Facebook’s own ad archive show that the company’s new system to ensure diverse audiences for housing and employment ads has many of the same problems as its predecessor.
YouTube Promised to Label State-Sponsored Videos But Doesn’t Always Do So
We found more than 50 government-funded channels from countries including Russia, Iran and the United States that the Google subsidiary failed to flag.
The Hedge Fund Billionaire’s Guide to Buying Your Kids A Better Shot at Lots of Elite Colleges
Most tycoons give big to one or two universities as their children approach college age. David Shaw gave to seven.
Digital Jail: How Electronic Monitoring Drives Defendants Into Debt
Ankle bracelets are promoted as a humane alternative to jail. But private companies charge defendants hundreds of dollars a month to wear the surveillance devices. If people can’t pay, they may end up behind bars.