Paul Pringle (born 1956) is an American investigative

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

for 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 ...

'' and author of the 2022 book '' Bad City: Peril and Power in the City of Angels.''

Education

Pringle earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

and

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 ...

from

California State University, Northridge California State University, Northridge (CSUN or Cal State Northridge), is a public university in the Northridge neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. With a total enrollment of 36,848 students (as of Fall 2024), it has the ...

in 1978 and a Master of Arts in journalism from

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsyl ...

, where he was a columnist for ''

The Daily Collegian The ''Daily Collegian'' is a student-produced news outlet, with a newspaper and website, that is published independently at the Pennsylvania State University. The newspaper is printed once a week during the fall and spring semesters, and not at ...

''.

Career

Before joining the ''

'' in 2001, Pringle worked as West Coast bureau chief for ''

The Dallas Morning News ''The Dallas Morning News'' is a daily newspaper serving the Dallas–Fort Worth area of Texas, with an average print circulation in 2022 of 65,369. It was founded on October 1, 1885, by Alfred Horatio Belo as a satellite publication of the ' ...

'' from 1998 to 2001 and as Los Angeles bureau chief for Copley News Service from 1984 to 1998. He also worked as a stringer for ''

The Tampa Tribune ''The Tampa Tribune'' was a daily newspaper published in Tampa, Florida. Along with the competing ''Tampa Bay Times'', the ''Tampa Tribune'' was one of two major newspapers published in the Tampa Bay area. The newspaper also published a ''St. P ...

'' and taught journalism part-time at Cal State Northridge.

''Los Angeles Times''

Pringle is an

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 ...

at the ''

''. He has covered stories that include the

2004 California wildfires 7,898 wildfires burned in the US state of California in 2004. Fires Below is a list of all fires that exceeded during the 2004 fire season. The list is taken from CAL FIRE's list of large fires. References {{California wildfires lists ...

, corruption in the

Service Employees International Union Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is a labor union representing 2 million workers in over 100 occupations in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. SEIU is focused on organizing workers in three sectors: healthcare (over half of m ...

, misspending in Los Angeles's community colleges, corruption in

Bell, California Bell is an municipal corporation, incorporated city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located near the center of the former San Antonio Township (abolished after 1960), its population was 33,559 at the 2020 United States census ...

, abuses by the Coliseum Commission, drug use by former USC Keck School of Medicine Dean

Carmen Puliafito Carmen Anthony Puliafito (born January 5, 1951) is an American ophthalmologist and former academic administrator. From 2007 until March 2016, he was dean of the Keck School of Medicine of USC. In 2017, the ''Los Angeles Times'' revealed that Pul ...

and a subsequent lack of response by the Pasadena Police Department, and the alleged abuse of women by USC gynecologist

George Tyndall George Tyndall (1946 or 1947 – October 4, 2023) was an American Gynaecology, gynecologist. In 2019 he was under investigation in the Los Angeles Police Department's largest investigation of sexual abuse by a single perpetrator. Early life ...

. His book, ''Bad City: Peril and Power in the City of Angels'', is a behind-the-scenes look at his investigation into Puliafito and the consequent exposure of corruption at USC, the Pasadena Police Department, and the ''Los Angeles Times''. The book was published by Celadon Books in 2022. It describes his year-long struggle to get the story of Puliafito's drug-fueled sexual activities published. Pringle's reporting on the case began with a March 2016 overdose incident, but his superiors at the ''Times'' refused to publish the story, because they did not want to offend USC. He and colleagues persisted, continuing to research the case, until the ''Times'' finally published the report in July 2017, long after Puliafito had resigned as dean. Katie Benner 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 ...

'' wrote that "Pringle’s fast-paced book is a master class in investigative journalism," adding "Pringle delivers his account in a torrent of sharp storytelling and righteous score-settling that might seem petty if the stakes were not so grave."

Awards

* 2004 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting for ''What Do You Save From a House Full of Memories?'' * 2008

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 ...

* 2008 Distinguished Journalist, by the Greater Los Angeles chapter of the

Society of Professional Journalists The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), formerly known as Sigma Delta Chi, is the oldest organization representing journalists in the United States. It was established on April 17, 1909, at DePauw University,2009 SPJ Annual Report, lette ...

* 2009

Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting Pulitzer may refer to: *Joseph Pulitzer, a 19th century media magnate *Pulitzer Prize, an annual U.S. journalism, literary, and music award *Pulitzer (surname) * Pulitzer, Inc., a U.S. newspaper chain *Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, a non-pro ...

Finalist * 2011

Pulitzer Prize for Public Service The Pulitzer Prize for Public Service is one of the fourteen American Pulitzer Prizes annually awarded for journalism. It recognizes a distinguished example of meritorious public service by a newspaper or news site through the use of its journali ...

* 2012

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

Worth Bingham Prize The Worth Bingham Prize, also referred to as the Worth Bingham Prize for Investigative Reporting, is an annual journalism award which honors: "newspaper or magazine investigative reporting of stories of national significance where the public inter ...

* 2014 California Newspaper Publishers Association's 1st Amendment Award * 2015 University of Florida's Joseph L. Brechner Award * 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pringle, Paul 1956 births Living people American male journalists George Polk Award recipients Los Angeles Times people 21st-century American journalists Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting winners Pulitzer Prize for Public Service winners Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting winners