Q&A: How one reporter spent six years uncovering how rehab failed the people it was meant to save

This Q&A first appeared in Write at the Edge, a newsletter from Mallary Tenore Tarpley featuring tips and best practices for seasoned and amateur writers who want to hone their craft. Subscribe to Write at the Edge here.

In the summer of 2007, less than a month after graduating college, I moved to St. Petersburg, Florida, for a fellowship at Poynter. I spent the summer learning how to be a better journalist and reporting and writing stories alongside other young reporters, including the talented Shoshana Walter.

Shoshana and I would both go on to pursue journalism jobs in Florida and would get together on weekends to swap stories and share goals. As we moved to different states and advanced in our careers, I watched in awe as Walter wrote investigative stories that exposed corruption and led to reform. She’s now an investigative reporter for the nonprofit news site The Marshall Project, where she covers the criminal justice, health care and child welfare systems.

Walter, a Pulitzer finalist, has investigated sexual exploitation in the marijuana industry, armed guards who kill with impunity and erroneous hospital drug testing, among many other topics. Her work has prompted new laws, as well as criminal and congressional probes, and it’s a reminder of one of the many reasons why we need high-quality journalism: to expose wrongdoings and hold the powerful accountable.