KINGSTON, R.I.鈥擭ov. 7, 2023鈥擯ulitzer Prize-winner Caitlin Dickerson says it was around the time she cast her first vote in an election that her future as an investigative reporter started to come into focus.
During that time, Dickerson told an audience in the 溏心vlog免费B站鈥檚 Swan Hall, she started thinking about the importance of accurate information to the choices voters make鈥攁nd how working people simply don鈥檛 have time to dig up that information on their own.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not like you can call up the Department of Justice and say, 鈥楬ey, I remember that Congress appropriated [several] billion dollars to you last year. What did you end up spending that on?鈥欌�� Dickerson said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 not something that most people can do, so I decided that my role in our democracy was to take on this job of being an informer.鈥�
On Wednesday, Nov. 1, Dickerson discussed that role as the featured speaker for the annual . During a 90-minute lecture and question-and-answer period, Dickerson discussed the importance of objective investigative journalism in the modern world, as well as her Pulitzer Prize-winning work revealing the truth about the U.S. government鈥檚 policy of separating migrant children from their families at the southern border.
Like many of her stories, Dickerson said the family separation story started with a tip. She heard from a government source that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security was considering family separation as a way to deter people from attempting to cross the border. Those sources presented the idea as something they thought was outrageous, but Dickerson was able to confirm that the plan had reached the desk of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen for consideration.
After Dickerson鈥檚 front-page story in The New York Times about the proposed policy, reports began trickling in that separations were already happening. Yet government officials denied those reports were true and that such a policy was in place.
Those flat denials were a surprise to Dickerson. Normally, she says, government officials will do one of three things when faced with a question they鈥檇 rather not answer: They refuse to comment, offer additional information that helps to place the issue in context, or attempt to misdirect the reporter by offering an alternative issue to discuss.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 what you get as an investigative reporter,鈥� Dickerson said of those stock responses. 鈥淲hat you don鈥檛 [normally] get is a lie. That鈥檚 not how this country works. It doesn鈥檛 matter who鈥檚 in office. Partisanship aside, there鈥檚 an expectation in this country since it was established that we need a free and fair press with access 鈥� to information.鈥�
Dickerson persisted and was finally able to confirm that separations were indeed happening. After another front-page story in The Times, the Trump administration finally announced the policy publicly. Amid a fierce blowback, Nielsen eventually resigned as secretary of homeland security. Dickerson stayed with the story, eventually publishing in 2022 a 30,000-word expos茅 in The Atlantic detailing the policy, its haphazard implementation, and the pain it inflicted on families.
The piece won Dickerson the Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting. It and other stories about family separation also played a role in a legal settlement the U.S. reached with migrants affected by the policy.
鈥淭he lawyers who were involved in that settlement talked a lot about the importance of journalism exposing the truth about what happened,鈥� Dickerson said, 鈥渆specially when you鈥檙e talking about a story that was misrepresented to the public.鈥�
During the question-and-answer session, Dickerson encouraged aspiring journalists to dig for truth.
鈥淲hatever the story you鈥檙e working on, it starts with a simple goal: to inform,鈥� she said. A reporter鈥檚 job is 鈥渢o tell readers not what people with a lot of power want them to think is true, but what鈥檚 actually true鈥攚hat鈥檚 actually happening.鈥�
As difficult as it might be at times, Dickerson also encouraged would-be investigative journalists to put their opinions aside and follow the facts.
An investigative piece simply doesn鈥檛 work if 鈥渨hat you write is laden with your own perspective with not enough fact,鈥� Dickerson said. 鈥淓ven when the fact defies conventional wisdom, even when it defies what 鈥� your reader might prefer, you really have to give it to people straight in order to arm them to participate in our democracy.鈥�
The role of journalism in a functioning democracy remains critical, Dickerson said, even at a time when trust and respect for journalists appears to be waning. 鈥淭he country needs us,鈥� she said. 鈥淓ven though they hate us sometimes, they need us.鈥�