Debbie Cenziper
Debbie Cenziper is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter and nonfiction author who writes for ProPublica’s national desk. She spent more than a decade at The Washington Post.
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Debbie Cenziper is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter and nonfiction author who writes for ProPublica’s national desk. She spent more than a decade at The Washington Post.
Over 30 years, Cenziper’s stories have changed laws, prompted congressional and FBI investigations, and helped secure more funding for affordable housing, mental health care and public schools.
She has won dozens of awards in American print journalism, including the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for local reporting about corrupt affordable housing developers in Miami. She was a Pulitzer finalist in 2006 for a series about breakdowns in the nation’s hurricane-warning system.
Cenziper was one of the lead reporters at The Washington Post on the award-winning Pandora Papers, a 2021 investigation about the secret movement of wealth around the world. In 2022, while at ProPublica, she co-authored “Shadow Diplomats,” an investigation about troubled volunteer diplomats that has spurred reforms in nine countries.
She is the author of “Citizen 865: The Hunt for Hitler’s Hidden Soldiers in America,” and “Love Wins: The Lovers and Lawyers Who Fought the Landmark Case for Marriage Equality,” named one of the most notable books of the year by The Washington Post.
Cenziper is a professor at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.
How We Investigated the Recall of Millions of Philips Breathing Machines
An international team of reporters reviewed thousands of records and interviewed insiders to expose what went wrong in the global corporation.
Help ProPublica and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Investigate the Recall of Philips Respironics Breathing Machines
If you’ve reported a death or injury or struggled to get a device replaced, we’d like to hear about your experience with the company.
Philips Kept Complaints About Dangerous Breathing Machines Secret While Company Profits Soared
Tainted CPAP machines and ventilators went to children, the elderly and at least 700,000 veterans despite internal warnings. Company insiders said the devices posed an “unacceptable” risk.
These Documents Reveal Abuses and Breakdowns in Rogue System of Global Diplomacy
Nine documents show how journalists built the first comprehensive account of wrongdoing by volunteer diplomats known as honorary consuls.
Nazi Germany Used Honorary Consuls to Advance Agenda Globally, Records Show
A ProPublica-ICIJ investigation into shadow diplomats identified about 20 honorary consuls suspected of supporting the Third Reich through espionage and other activities.
Shadow Diplomats Have Posed a Threat for Decades. The World’s Governments Looked the Other Way.
The U.S. State Department trusts foreign governments to nominate reputable honorary consuls, despite global accounts of wrongdoing.
The Global Threat of Rogue Diplomacy
How honorary consuls leverage perks, wield political power amid reports of wrongdoing.
Governments Call for Reforms to Centuries-Old Honorary Consul System
Authorities launch probes and propose overhauls following ProPublica and ICIJ’s global “Shadow Diplomats” investigation.
Agents of Influence: How Russia Deploys an Army of Shadow Diplomats
Under Vladimir Putin, Russia has appointed dozens of honorary consuls. Many have spread pro-Kremlin sentiment around the world.
The Global Threat of Rogue Diplomacy
Honorary consuls were meant to foster ties between countries. Accused terrorist financiers, arms traffickers and drug runners are among those who have wielded diplomatic protection, a global investigation finds.