Megan Rose
I am a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter at ProPublica. Please reach out with tips and documents.
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What I Cover
My reporting involves exposing how regular Americans are harmed by abuses in the criminal justice system, the military and, recently, the regulation of health care. I investigate complex issues and spend significant time getting to know the people affected to tell in-depth, nuanced stories.
My Background
I’ve been a reporter for more than 20 years (my byline was formerly Megan McCloskey). I joined ProPublica in 2013 after working as a correspondent in Iraq and Afghanistan and other places around the world for Stars and Stripes and others. I 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 before several fatal accidents.
I have also examined the billions wasted by the U.S. government in Afghanistan and how the Pentagon was failing to find missing service members from past wars.
A series I wrote exposed how rather than working to exonerate wrongfully convicted defendants, prosecutors instead pushed a little-known plea deal that left innocent men with records.
My work has resulted in several falsely convicted men clearing their records, congressional inquiries and high-level leadership changes.
I graduated from the University of Missouri and received the Gerald R. Ford Journalism Award, a White House Correspondents’ Association award and the Deborah Howell Award for Writing Excellence, and I was twice a finalist for the Livingston Award.
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.
Nevada Passes Modest Measures to Curb Prosecutorial Misconduct
Lobbying by prosecutors and police guts law that would have punished prosecutors who didn’t share evidence with defense. Debate cited case of Fred Steese, subject of ProPublica and Vanity Fair story.
Kafka in Vegas
Fred Steese served more than 20 years in prison for the murder of a Vegas showman even though evidence in the prosecution’s files proved he didn’t do it. But when the truth came to light, he was offered a confounding deal known as an Alford plea. If he took it he could go free, but he’d remain a convicted killer.
Vegas Judge Had Long History of Prosecutorial Misconduct
The behavior of Bill Kephart, who led the murder prosecution of Fred Steese, was repeatedly lambasted by the Supreme Court of Nevada. But that didn’t stop him from becoming a judge. This month he was charged with misconduct in that position too.
Our Military Waste Game Suddenly Seems Prophetic
With Trump pushing to give the U.S. military another $52 billion, a game we built two years ago to put the billions wasted in Afghanistan in perspective seems particularly relevant.
Even Suspended Ban Puts Iraqi Interpreter’s Carefully Built American Dream At Risk
An interpreter risked his life working for the U.S. Marines. Now, after eight years in the U.S., his Michigan export business is suffering because it's too risky to leave the country.
Lawmakers to Pentagon: Goats, Carpets and Jewelry Helped Afghanistan How?
At a Senate hearing this week, lawmakers questioned whether a Pentagon business task force had accomplished anything worthwhile.
Afghanistan Waste Exhibit A: Kajaki Dam, More Than $300M Spent and Still Not Done
A Senate subcommittee is looking at waste by a Pentagon task force. It would do well to review the reasons why a major hydroelectric power plant sits unfinished.
The U.S. Spent a Half Billion on Mining in Afghanistan With ‘Limited Progress’
The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction has labelled yet another project in danger of failing. This time its U.S. plans to develop the country’s oil, gas and minerals industries.
We Blew $17 Billion in Afghanistan. How Would You Have Spent It?
The U.S. government has wasted billions of dollars in Afghanistan, and until now, no one has added it all up. Project after project blundered ahead ignoring history, culture and warnings of failure. And Congress has barely blinked as the financial toll has mounted. Here’s just what the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction found. See for yourself how that money could have been used at home.