Press Under Pressure: Compliance and the Cost of Truth

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Join us for an engaging discussion with Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Jesse Eisinger on the evolving relationship between the press and government. As a senior editor and reporter at ProPublica, Eisinger has exposed critical issues such as financial misconduct and political influence, earning widespread recognition for his impactful reporting. This conversation will delve into the essential role of journalism in holding power accountable while examining how recent developments—lawsuits, shifting endorsement practices, and political contributions—are redefining the media's capacity to protect democracy and uphold press freedom.

Speaker

 Jesse Eisinger is a senior editor and reporter at ProPublica. He is the author of the “The Chickenshit Club: Why the Justice Department Fails to Prosecute Executives.”In April 2011, he and a colleague won the Pulitzer Prize for national reporting for a series of stories on questionable Wall Street practices that helped make the financial crisis the worst since the Great Depression. He was the lead reporter on the “Secret IRS Files” series that exposed the tax avoidance strategies of the ultrawealthy. The series won several prizes, including the Selden Ring in 2022. He also won the 2015 Gerald Loeb Award for commentary. He was the editor on the “Friends of the Court” series, which revealed how a small group of politically influential billionaires wooed justices with lavish gifts and travel; it won the Pulitzer Prize for public service in 2024. He serves on the advisory board of the University of California, Berkeley’s Financial Fraud Institute. And he was a consultant on season 3 of the HBO series “Succession.” His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, NewYorker.com, The Washington Post, The Baffler and The American Prospect and on NPR and “This American Life.” Before joining ProPublica, he was the Wall Street editor of Conde Nast Portfolio and a columnist for The Wall Street Journal, covering markets and finance. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, the journalist Sarah Ellison, and their daughters.  

Student Leader Moderator

Hendrick Townley, MBA '25