Robin Fields
Robin Fields is a reporter with ProPublica. She joined ProPublica as a reporter in 2008, became a senior editor in 2010 and served as managing editor from 2013 to 2022 prior to returning to the reporter role.
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Robin Fields is a reporter with ProPublica. She joined ProPublica as a reporter in 2008, became a senior editor in 2010 and served as managing editor from 2013 to 2022 prior to returning to the reporter role. As an editor, she has overseen projects on political dark money, injection wells, the military’s handling of traumatic brain injuries, police violence in post-Katrina New Orleans, cell tower deaths and the nation's troubled system of death investigations. Work she has edited has twice been honored with George Polk Awards, as well as awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and IRE. These projects also have resulted in four documentaries made in partnership with PBS FRONTLINE, two of which received Emmy nominations. As a reporter at ProPublica, Fields did a project on U.S. dialysis care and wrote stories about a troubled chain of psychiatric hospitals. Fields was a finalist for a National Magazine Award for her work on dialysis, which was also honored by IRE and the Society of Professional Journalists and received the Gannett Foundation Award for Innovative Investigative Journalism. Fields began her career at the Sun-Sentinel in South Florida. Before joining ProPublica, spent nine years as a reporter at the Los Angeles Times, where she worked on investigations into political fundraiser Norman Hsu, California's adult guardianship system and abuses at the J. Paul Getty Trust. Her work on guardianship received the National Journalism Award for investigative reporting, a Sigma Delta Chi Public Service Award and an Associated Press Managing Editors Public Service Award.
The COVID-19 Booster’s Public Relations Problem
With a new coronavirus booster rolling out, a leading expert on vaccines explains how public health leaders have struggled to set expectations for the COVID-19 vaccine and convey clearly who benefits from each additional shot.
New York Polio Case Now Connected to Traces of Virus Found in UK and Israel
Using sewage sample tests from three countries separated by thousands of miles, public health officials hope to unravel the mystery of where this polio started circulating and what threat it poses.
How Polio Crept Back Into the U.S.
U.S. public health agencies generally don’t test wastewater for signs of polio. That may have given the virus time to circulate silently before it paralyzed a New York man.
In a Post-Roe America, Expect More Births in a Country Where Maternal Mortality Continues to Rise
The United States has the highest maternal mortality rate among wealthy countries. And it may get worse as abortions become more difficult to obtain, say public health experts.
The Investigative Reporting Behind America’s Obsession With Britney Spears’ Conservatorship
Years ago, ProPublica Managing Editor Robin Fields investigated California conservatorships. Recently, she interviewed New York Times Senior Story Editor Liz Day about the reporting in the “Framing Britney Spears” documentary.
Welcome to Our Second Decade
Much has changed since ProPublica published its first story, but we remain committed to the power of fact-based journalism to spur change and right wrongs.
Here’s One Issue Blue and Red States Agree On: Preventing Deaths of Expectant and New Mothers
From Indiana to Oregon, lawmakers are passing bills to increase scrutiny of maternal deaths. Often, they’re citing our “Lost Mothers” series.
Maternal Deaths Are Increasing in Texas, But Probably Not as Much as We Thought
A statistical jump in the mortality rate of expectant and new mothers over 40 is “biologically implausible,” according to the co-author of a new study.
New York City Launches Committee to Review Maternal Deaths
Amid intensifying concerns about deaths and near-deaths related to pregnancy and childbirth, New York City will review cases in depth to protect mothers and improve data collection.
How Many American Women Die From Causes Related to Pregnancy or Childbirth? No One Knows.
Data collection on maternal deaths is so flawed and under-funded that the federal government no longer even publishes an official death rate.