Michael Rothfeld is an American journalist and writer. He was a leader of ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

'' reporting team that won the

Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting This Pulitzer Prize has been awarded since 1942 for a distinguished example of reporting on national affairs in the United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily ...

in 2019.

Biography

Rothfeld graduated from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

in 1993 and

Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism is located in Pulitzer Hall on the university's Morningside Heights campus in New York City. Founded in 1912 by Joseph Pulitzer, Columbia Journalism School is one of the oldest journalism sch ...

in 1998. He started his journalism career by working for the ''Manhattan Spirit'' as an unpaid intern, eventually rising to become the newspaper's editor before departing for Columbia's journalism school in 1997. He then joined ''

The Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'', often referred to simply as ''The Inquirer'', is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded on June 1, 1829, ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is the third-longest continuously operating da ...

'' as a suburban correspondent before spending seven years at ''

Newsday ''Newsday'' is a daily newspaper in the United States primarily serving Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI" ...

'' on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

covering local and state government. He was statehouse reporter at The ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' from 2007 to 2010. From 2010 to 2019, he was an investigate reporter at ''

''. He was among a group of ''Journal'' reporters to win a

George Polk Award The George Polk Awards in Journalism are a series of American journalism awards presented annually by Long Island University in New York in the United States. A writer for Idea Lab, a group blog hosted on the website of PBS, described the awar ...

for coverage of insider trading in 2011. Rothfeld was a lead contributor to the coverage of President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

’s hush-money payments during the 2016 campaigns to suppress the stories of two women who claimed to have had affairs with him, leading to a 2019 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting for his reporting team. In 2019, Rothfeld joined the metro desk of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' as an investigative reporter. He co-authored the 2020 book ''The Fixers'' with his colleague Joe Palazzolo on their Pulitzer-winning coverage.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rothfeld, Michael Living people The New York Times people The Wall Street Journal people Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting winners Columbia College (New York) alumni American writers Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism alumni The Philadelphia Inquirer people Los Angeles Times people Newsday people George Polk Award recipients Year of birth missing (living people)