Wesley Lowery
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Wesley Lowery (born 1990) is an American journalist who has worked at
American University The American University (AU or American) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Its main campus spans 90-acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, in the Spri ...
,
CBS News CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio broadcaster CBS. It is headquartered in New York City. CBS News television programs include ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs ''CBS News Sunday Morn ...
, and ''
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 ...
''. He was a lead on the ''Post'''s "Fatal Force" project that won the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting in 2016. In 2017, he became a CNN political contributor and in 2020 was announced as a correspondent for ''60 in 6'', a short-form spinoff of ''
60 Minutes ''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who distinguished it from other news programs by using a unique style o ...
'' for
Quibi Quibi ( ) was an American short-form streaming platform that generated content for viewing on mobile devices. It was founded in Los Angeles in August 2018 as NewTV by Jeffrey Katzenberg and was led by Meg Whitman as CEO. The service raised $ ...
. Lowery is a former fellow at Georgetown University's Institute of Politics and Public Service. In March 2025, Lowery resigned from his job at American University amid allegations that he had made inappropriate sexual comments and unwanted sexual advances toward students and journalists. In May 2025, the
Columbia Journalism Review The ''Columbia Journalism Review'' (''CJR'') is a biannual magazine for professional journalists that has been published by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism since 1961. Its original purpose was "to assess the performance ...
published an exposé of allegations of sexual misconduct against Lowery, saying he exhibited a "pattern of predatory behavior toward young women in journalism" spanning from 2018 to 2024.


Early life

Lowery attended Shaker Heights High School and
Ohio University Ohio University (Ohio or OU) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus in Athens, Ohio, United States. The university was first conceived in the 1787 contract between the United States Department of the Treasury#Re ...
. During college, Lowery was editor-in-chief of the campus newspaper, '' The Post'', and interned at ''
The Detroit News ''The Detroit News'' is one of the two major newspapers in the U.S. city of Detroit, Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United S ...
'', ''
The Columbus Dispatch ''The Columbus Dispatch'' is a daily newspaper based in Columbus, Ohio. Its first issue was published on July 1, 1871, and it has been the only mainstream daily newspaper in the city since ''The Columbus Citizen-Journal'' ceased publication in ...
'', and ''
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 ...
''.


Career

Lowery was a reporting fellow 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 ...
'', then moved to the ''
Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...
'', becoming a general assignment political reporter in 2013 and covered topics including the murder trial of the NFL's Aaron Hernandez, Boston's mayoral race, and the manhunt for the Boston marathon bombers. In 2014, the National Association of Black Journalists named Lowery "Emerging Journalist of the Year". Lowery moved to ''The Washington Post'' in 2014; '' The Washingtonian'' described him in 2015 as the paper's "rising star...a terrific reporter" with a track record for "establishing deep sources, writing colorful solo pieces, and contributing to team coverage." Lowery has served as a judge for the American Mosaic Journalism Prize each year from 2018-2025.


Ferguson coverage and arrest

In August 2014, Lowery covered the Ferguson protests for ''The Post''. On August 13, Lowery and ''
Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers ...
'' reporter Ryan Reilly were arrested in a
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. Journalism groups as well as Lowery's and Reilly's employers condemned the arrests, saying they were, as the ''
Columbia Journalism Review The ''Columbia Journalism Review'' (''CJR'') is a biannual magazine for professional journalists that has been published by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism since 1961. Its original purpose was "to assess the performance ...
'' characterized it, "deliberate and unjustifiable attempts to interfere with the press." A year later, shortly before the statute of limitations was set to expire, St. Louis County prosecutors charged Lowery and Reilly with trespassing and interfering with a police officer. In May 2016, prosecutors dropped all charges against Reilly and Lowery in exchange for an agreement that the reporters would not sue the county.


Fatal Force project

Lowery was a lead (also see Kimbriell Kelly), on the ''Post'''s "Fatal Force" project, a database that tracked 990 police shootings in 2015. At the time, the federal government had no comprehensive, nationwide data on police killings; the most systematic data available came from databases compiled by independent, grassroots organizations like Fatal Encounters, Stolen Lives Project, Operation Ghetto Storm, and Killed by Police. Drawing on these databases as well as local newspaper reports, law enforcement websites and social media, Lowery and colleagues built out the Post's Fatal Force database. The project won the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting in 2016, and the Justice Department announced a pilot program to begin collecting a more comprehensive set of use-of-force statistics in 2017.


''They Can't Kill Us All''

Lowery's first book ''They Can't Kill Us All: Ferguson, Baltimore, and a New Era in America's Racial Justice Movement'' was published November 15, 2016 by
Little, Brown Little, Brown and Company is an American publishing company founded in 1837 by Charles Coffin Little and James Brown in Boston. For close to two centuries, it has published fiction and nonfiction by American authors. Early lists featured Emil ...
. The book describes the
Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter (BLM) is a Decentralization, decentralized political and social movement that aims to highlight racism, discrimination and Racial inequality in the United States, racial inequality experienced by black people, and to pro ...
movement in the context of U.S. history as well as Lowery's personal history. ''
The Seattle Times ''The Seattle Times'' is an American daily newspaper based in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1891, ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region. The Seattle Time ...
'' listed it as among the fall releases they "can't wait to read". ''The Boston Globe'' said Lowery "offers fresh insights into what it means to cover a broad national story about race in a rigorous and sustained way." Noting that Lowery wrote the book at 25, ''
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 ...
'' said, "His book is electric, because it is so well reported, so plainly told and so evidently the work of a man who has not grown a callus on his heart." Lowery won the 2017 Christopher Isherwood Prize for Autobiographical Prose from the ''Los Angeles Times'' Book Prizes for ''They Can't Kill Us All''. In January 2022, it was reported that AMC will be adapting the book into a television series. The project will be produced by Brad Weston's production company Makeready, with
Don Cheadle Donald Frank Cheadle Jr. (, ; born November 29, 1964) is an American actor. Known for his roles in film and television, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Don Cheadle, multiple accolades including two Golden Globe Award ...
, Weston and Lowery as executive producers.


Quibi

Lowery joined
CBS News CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio broadcaster CBS. It is headquartered in New York City. CBS News television programs include ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs ''CBS News Sunday Morn ...
in 2020. It was speculated that part of the reason for Lowery's departure from ''The Washington Post'' was that he was unhappy with the newspaper's social media policy for its journalists, which discouraged some of his more provocative comments on Twitter and elsewhere; Lowery had clashed with the managing editors before on content in his tweets. At CBS News, he worked on ''60 in 6'', a shorter six-minute spinoff of ''
60 Minutes ''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who distinguished it from other news programs by using a unique style o ...
'' for
Quibi Quibi ( ) was an American short-form streaming platform that generated content for viewing on mobile devices. It was founded in Los Angeles in August 2018 as NewTV by Jeffrey Katzenberg and was led by Meg Whitman as CEO. The service raised $ ...
.


American University

In September 2023, Lowery joined the faculty of the
American University The American University (AU or American) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Its main campus spans 90-acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, in the Spri ...
School of Communication where he served as an associate professor of investigative journalism and as the executive editor of the Investigative Reporting Workshop. In March 2025, Lowery resigned from American University amid allegations of inappropriate sexual conduct.


Sexual misconduct allegations

In March 2025, Lowery resigned from American University after being accused of at least three Title IX complaints, in which he was alleged to have made inappropriate sexual comments in meetings with students and other abusive behavior towards journalists. In May 2025, the
Columbia Journalism Review The ''Columbia Journalism Review'' (''CJR'') is a biannual magazine for professional journalists that has been published by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism since 1961. Its original purpose was "to assess the performance ...
reported that Lowery was accused of sexually assaulting at least four women.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lowery, Wesley Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting winners The Washington Post people CBS News people Ohio University alumni Living people Place of birth missing (living people) 1990 births People from Shaker Heights, Ohio African-American journalists American male journalists 21st-century American journalists 21st-century African-American people Black Lives Matter people Killing of Michael Brown