Megan Rose

Reporter

Photo of Megan Rose

Megan Rose, formerly Megan McCloskey, has investigated criminal justice and the military for ProPublica since 2013. She won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting with two colleagues for a series examining how Navy and Marine Corps leadership failed to heed warnings and implement reforms leading up to several fatal accidents.

Rose has also examined the billions of dollars wasted by the U.S. government in Afghanistan and how the Pentagon was failing in its efforts to find and identify missing service members from past wars. In a series investigating prosecutorial misconduct, she exposed how rather than exonerating wrongfully convicted defendants, prosecutors instead pushed a little known plea deal that left innocent men with a record.

Rose’s work at ProPublica and elsewhere has resulted in several falsely convicted men clearing their records, Congressional inquiries, and high-level leadership changes.

Previously Rose was a correspondent for Stars and Stripes, reporting from the war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan, a disaster zone in Haiti, and U.S. military bases in Asia. She also worked for the Associated Press both domestically and abroad.

She graduated from the University of Missouri with degrees in journalism and political science, and has received the Gerald R. Ford Journalism Award, a White House Correspondents’ Association award and the Deborah Howell Award for Writing Excellence, and was twice a finalist for the Livingston Award.

Rose lives in Washington with her husband and son.

Blame Over Justice: The Human Toll of the Navy’s Relentless Push to Punish One of Its Own

Navy Cmdr. Bryce Benson accepted responsibility for the deadly crash of the USS Fitzgerald and was told, “That’s done now.” But when another ship crashed, the Navy decided it wasn’t through with him. Its pursuit nearly destroyed him and his family.

Iran Has Hundreds of Naval Mines. U.S. Navy Minesweepers Find Old Dishwashers and Car Parts.

As tensions heat up in the Persian Gulf, the Navy’s minesweeping fleet may once again be called into action, but its sailors say the ships are too old and broken to do the job. “We are essentially the ships that the Navy forgot.”

Trump Keeps Talking About the Last Military Standoff With Iran — Here’s What Really Happened

In 2016, 10 sailors were captured by Iran. Trump is making it a political issue. Our investigation shows that it was a Navy failure, and the problems run deep.

The Salty Curmudgeon and the BIC

How a serendipitous visit from two veterans informed our reporting.

He Helped Wrongfully Convict a Vegas Man. Two Decades Later, His Daughter Worked on a Law to Make Amends.

Nevada could soon become the 34th state to compensate exonerees. While researching the pending legislation, a college student learned that her dad, now a judge, had prosecuted a man who was later found innocent.

Investigation of Disasters Sparks Debate Over Navy’s Readiness and Responsibilities

ProPublica’s examination of the causes behind two fatal collisions in the Pacific has set off an intense conversation among current and former Navy sailors and commanders as well as everyday citizens about the state of the U.S. Navy.

Years of Warnings, Then Death and Disaster

How the Navy failed its sailors

Death and Valor on an American Warship Doomed by its Own Navy

Investigation finds officials ignored warnings for years before one of the deadliest crashes in decades.

Baltimore to Pay Largest Settlement in City History — $9 Million — to Man Wrongfully Convicted of Murder

James Owens, who was featured in a ProPublica investigation last year, sued police detectives for the alleged misconduct that landed him in prison for 21 years. Prosecutors had tried to make him take a controversial plea deal.

Video: This Obscure Plea Deal Offers Freedom to the Wrongfully Convicted at a Huge Cost

A confounding case in Baltimore shows just how far prosecutors will go to keep a win on the books — even at the expense of an innocent man.

Baltimore Judge Tosses Alford Plea, Rebuking Prosecutor

Demetrius Smith has long maintained he pleaded guilty to a shooting he did not commit. Now, over the prosecutor's objections, his conviction has been set aside.

Innocent But Still Guilty

Inmates are sometimes offered freedom in exchange for pleading guilty to a crime they probably didn’t commit. It’s a bad deal.

Baltimore Prosecutor Admits He Was Wrong to Block Request to Alter Alford Plea

A ProPublica story last month pointed out that the prosecutor had given up his right to veto changes to the unusual plea deal. Demetrius Smith, who was wrongfully convicted of murder when he agreed to the deal, will get a new hearing.

A Dubious Arrest, a Compromised Prosecutor, a Tainted Plea: How One Murder Case Exposes a Broken System

One innocent man’s odyssey through the justice system shows the cascading, and enduring, effects of a bad conviction.

Nevada Pardons Wrongfully Convicted Man Featured in Our Story

The pardon clears Fred Steese’s name after state prosecutors had pushed him into an arcane plea deal even though a judge had declared he was innocent. “I’m not a felon anymore,” Steese said.

Vegas Judge Featured in ProPublica Story Reprimanded for Ethics Violations

Judge William Kephart, who was repeatedly criticized for misconduct as a prosecutor and put at least one innocent person in prison, has been censured for a lapse on the bench.

Senator: Someone Needs to Be Fired Over Wasted $65 Million Plane

Sen. Chuck Grassley tells the Defense secretary “if heads don’t roll nothing changes.” The plane, which never flew a mission in Afghanistan, is part of a pattern of billions in military waste documented by ProPublica in 2015.

What Does an Innocent Man Have to Do to Go Free? Plead Guilty.

A case in Baltimore — in which two men were convicted of the same murder and cleared by DNA 20 years later — shows how far prosecutors will go to preserve a conviction.

The Freedom Plea: How Prosecutors Deny Exonerations by Dangling the Prison Keys

New evidence pointed to innocence in the cases of these four Baltimore men, yet prosecutors would only let them go if they agreed to controversial plea deals.

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