Michael D. Sallah is an American

investigative reporter Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, racial injustice, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend ...

and non-fiction author who has twice been awarded the

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

and is a three-time Pulitzer Prize finalist.

Life

Sallah graduated from St. John's Jesuit High School, a college preparatory school in Ohio, and then obtained his undergraduate degree in

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree of accuracy. The word, a noun, applies to the journ ...

at the

University of Toledo The University of Toledo (UToledo or UT) is a Public university, public research university in Toledo, Ohio, United States. It is the northernmost campus of the University System of Ohio. The university also operates a Health Science campus, ...

. While working for '' The Toledo Blade'', he received numerous state and national awards for his investigative stories into organized crime, clerical sexual abuse and white-collar fraud. He was named Best Reporter in Ohio in 2002 by the Society of Professional Journalists. Two years later, Sallah and fellow reporters Mitch Weiss and Joe Mahr were awarded the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for

Investigative Reporting Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, racial injustice, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend m ...

for a series on the atrocities by Tiger Force, a

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

platoon during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

. In 2005, he became an investigative reporter and editor at the ''

Miami Herald The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by McClatchy, The McClatchy Company and headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida. Founded in 1903, it is the fifth-largest newspaper in Florida, serving Miami-Dade, Broward County, Fl ...

'', where he directed numerous projects including a series on public housing corruption that won the 2007

Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting The Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting is awarded to an example of "significant issues of local or statewide concern, demonstrating originality and community connection". This Pulitzer Prize was first awarded in 1948. Like most Pulitzers the winn ...

. He was a Pulitzer finalist for meritorious

Public Service A public service or service of general (economic) interest is any service intended to address the needs of aggregate members of a community, whether provided directly by a public sector agency, via public financing available to private busin ...

in 2012 for a series exposing wretched and deadly conditions in Florida's assisted living facilities. He worked two years at ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'', and returned in 2014 to ''

The Miami Herald The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by The McClatchy Company and headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida. Founded in 1903, it is the fifth-largest newspaper in Florida, serving Miami-Dade, Broward, and Monroe countie ...

,'' where he was a Pulitzer finalist for Local Reporting in 2016 for stories that exposed a corrupt police sting operation that laundered $71.5 million for drug cartels—kept millions in profits—but did not make a single arrest. He was also a Pulitzer finalist for International Reporting in 2021 for his work for the

International Consortium of Investigative Journalists The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, Inc. (ICIJ), is an independent global network of 280 investigative journalists and over 140 media organizations spanning more than 100 countries. It is based in Washington, D.C., with ...

and BuzzFeed News on the

FinCEN Files The FinCEN Files are documents from the U.S. Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), that have been leaked to ''BuzzFeed News'' and then shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), and published ...

investigation, which revealed the role of big banks in allowing criminal organizations to move billions of dollars through the financial institutions. Sallah has received other national awards for his work in accountability journalism, including The '' IRE'' Medal, 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 ...

, a

Gerald Loeb Award The Gerald Loeb Awards, also referred to as the Gerald Loeb Awards for Distinguished Business and Financial Journalism, is a recognition of excellence in journalism, especially in the fields of business, finance and the economy. The award was e ...

, a Heywood Broun Award, a

Sigma Delta Chi Award The Sigma Delta Chi Awards are presented annually by the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) (formerly Sigma Delta Chi) for excellence in journalism. The SPJ states the purpose of the award is to promote "the free flow of information vital ...

and a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award. His reporting has been featured in three major documentaries (in which he also appeared), including Twist of Faith, an Academy Award-nominated feature documentary in 2004 about the clerical abuse crisis in Ohio, a

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

American Experience ''American Experience'' is a television program airing on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the United States. The program airs documentaries, many of which have won awards, about important or interesting events and people in American his ...

film in 2015 about William Alexander Morgan, an American who led his own fighting unit in the

Cuban Revolution The Cuban Revolution () was the military and political movement that overthrew the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, who had ruled Cuba from 1952 to 1959. The revolution began after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état, in which Batista overthrew ...

, and From Russia With Lev, a 2024 film that chronicles the Ukraine backchannel campaign that resulted in the

first impeachment trial of Donald Trump The first impeachment trial of Donald Trump, the 45th president of the United States, began in the U.S. Senate on January 16, 2020, and concluded with his acquittal on February 5. After Impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump, an inquiry bet ...

in 2019. Sallah has taught

investigative journalism Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, racial injustice, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend m ...

Barry University Barry University is a private Catholic university in Miami Shores, Florida. Founded in 1940 by the Adrian Dominican Sisters, it is one of the largest Catholic universities in the Southeast and is located within the Archdiocese of Miami. Th ...

in Miami and

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

's Washington DC program, and is a fellow at Northwestern University's

Medill School of Journalism The Medill School of Journalism (branded as Northwestern Medill; formally the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications) is the journalism school of Northwestern University. It offers both undergraduate and graduat ...

Investigative Lab in Washington. He received an honorary doctor of humane letters by his alma mater, the

, in 2017.

Works

*With

Mitch Weiss Mitchell S. Weiss (born 1957) is an American investigative journalist, and an editor at ''The Charlotte Observer''. He won the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting, with Joe Mahr and Michael D. Sallah. Life Weiss is a native of New Yo ...

. *With

. ''The Yankee Comandante: The Untold Story of Courage, Passion, and One American's Fight to Liberate Cuba''. Lyons Press, 2015.

References

External links

Interview
on ''Tiger Force'' at the

Pritzker Military Museum & Library The Pritzker Military Museum & Library (formerly Pritzker Military Library) is a non-profit museum and research library for the study of military history located in a state-of-the art facility in Kenosha, WI. The institution was founded in 2003, ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sallah, Michael D. Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American male journalists American investigative journalists Writers from Toledo, Ohio University of Toledo alumni Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting winners Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting winners Journalists from Ohio Gerald Loeb Award winners for Small and Medium Newspapers