Cheryl L. Reed (born 1966) is an American author and
journalist
A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...
. She won the 1996 Harvard
Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting
The Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting is an award for journalists administered by the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University. The program was launched in 1991, with the goal of exposing examples of ...
while at the ''
Dayton Daily News
The ''Dayton Daily News'' (''DDN'') is a daily newspaper published in Dayton, Ohio, United States. It is owned by Cox Enterprises, Inc., a privately held global conglomerate headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, with approximately ...
''.
She is the author of ''Poison Girls'', and ''Unveiled: The Hidden Lives of Nuns'', a work of literary journalism.
Reed graduated from the
Missouri School of Journalism
The Missouri School of Journalism at the University of Missouri in Columbia is one of the oldest formal journalism schools in the world. The school provides academic education and practical training in all areas of journalism and strategic comm ...
, with a BA in news writing and photojournalism, and from
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...
with a MA, and where she was a 1996 Kiplinger Fellow. She has a Master of Fine Arts degree in fiction from
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world.
Charte ...
.
She has been a resident at
Ragdale
Ragdale is the former summer retreat of Chicago architect Howard Van Doren Shaw (1869–1926), located in Lake Forest, Illinois. It is also the home of the Ragdale Foundation, an artist residency program that hosts creators from a number of dis ...
, the
Vermont Studio Center
The Vermont Studio Center (VSC) is a non-profit arts organization located in the town of Johnson, Vermont. It conducts the largest fine arts and writing residency program in the United States, with a significant population of international artis ...
,
New York Mills,
Hedgebrook
Hedgebrook is a rural retreat for women writers on Whidbey Island, Washington, founded in 1988. Hedgebrook's artist-in-residence program accepts up to 80 writers each year, who spend two to four weeks in residence working on their diverse writi ...
and
Norcroft.
Career
Journalistic career
Reed was a reporter at the ''Chicago Sun-Times'', ''Dayton Daily News'', the ''
Newport News Daily Press
''The Daily Press Inc.'' is a daily morning newspaper published in Newport News, Virginia, which covers the lower and middle Peninsula of Tidewater Virginia. It was established in 1896 and bought by Tribune Company in 1986. Current owner Tribu ...
'', and ''
Florida Today
''Florida Today'' is the major daily newspaper serving Brevard County, Florida. Al Neuharth of the Gannett corporation started the paper in 1966, and some of the things he did with this newspaper presaged what he would later do at USA Today.
I ...
''. Her work has appeared in ''
Mother Jones
Mary G. Harris Jones (1837 (baptized) – November 30, 1930), known as Mother Jones from 1897 onwards, was an Irish-born American schoolteacher and dressmaker who became a prominent union organizer, community organizer, and activist. She h ...
'', ''
U.S. News & World Report'', ''
The Philadelphia Inquirer
''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper's circulation is the largest in both the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the Delaware Valley metropolitan region of Southeastern Pennsy ...
Magazine'',
''Salon'', and the ''
Minneapolis Star-Tribune
Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...
''. Reed also served as senior editor for publications at the
University of Chicago Medical Center
The University of Chicago Medical Center (UChicago Medicine) is a nationally ranked academic medical center located in Hyde Park on the South Side of Chicago. It is the flagship campus for The University of Chicago Medicine system and was establis ...
, in Chicago, Illinois.
In 1996 she, and her colleagues at the ''
Dayton Daily News
The ''Dayton Daily News'' (''DDN'') is a daily newspaper published in Dayton, Ohio, United States. It is owned by Cox Enterprises, Inc., a privately held global conglomerate headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, with approximately ...
'', were nominated as finalists for the Pulitzer Prize in Reporting for "Military Secrets" and "Prisoners on the Payroll," a series of investigations into handling misconduct cases in the military. They won Harvard University's Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting, for the same series that year.
She was a books editor, and editor of the editorial page at the ''
Chicago Sun-Times
The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...
''.
Reed left the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' in 2008, unable to fulfill her promise to change the editorial stance from conservative to progressive, having previously vowed to '"return the paper to its "liberal, working-class roots" and to add "seats to our editorial board so that board members ... reflect
hicago'sdiversity."'
In 2018, she won the Chicago Writers Book of the Year award, for ''Poison Girls'', in the traditional fictional category.
Academic career
Reed was visiting professor of journalism at the
University of St. Thomas St. Thomas University or University of St. Thomas may refer to:
*Saint Thomas Aquinas University, Colombia
*Saint Thomas Aquinas University of the North, Tucumán province, Argentina
*St. Thomas University (Canada), Fredericton, New Brunswick
*St. ...
, and was previously an assistant professor of journalism at
Northern Michigan University
Northern Michigan University (Northern Michigan, Northern or NMU) is a public university in Marquette, Michigan. It was established in 1899 by the Michigan Legislature as Northern State Normal School. In 1963, the state designated Northern a uni ...
, (NMU) and its adviser to NMU's student newspaper ''The North Wind'' for the 2014–15 academic year.
She was a Fulbright U.S. Scholar in
Kyiv, Ukraine
Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the seventh-most populous city in Europe.
Kyi ...
, (2016-2017) where she taught investigative reporting and immersion journalism. In the fall of 2019, she returned to Ukraine, as a Fulbright Specialist teaching investigative journalism. According to her biography, she has plans to go to
Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and
Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan,, pronounced or the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and the People's Republic of China to the east. ...
as a Fulbright Scholar, in 2021.
Controversy
Reed was voted out of the position as the adviser at Northern Michigan University (NMU) the end of the school year by the newspaper's board of directors, for what Reed claimed was retaliation on the investigative journalism she was teaching her students.
Reed brought the board members to federal court in June 2015, but she later pulled out from the case when the judge denied a preliminary injunction that would have reinstated her as adviser.
Reed advocated for a new law that offers further protections for student speech and prevents schools and universities from retaliating against media advisors for material written by students.
In April 2016, NMU was awarded the national
muzzle award, by
Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression The Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression is a nonprofit, nonpartisan institution devoted solely to the defense of the First Amendment rights guaranteeing freedom of speech and of the press. The center was founded in 1989, un ...
for its treatment of Reed and the student newspaper. In November 2016, the
American Association of University Professors
The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) is an organization of professors and other academics in the United States. AAUP membership includes over 500 local campus chapters and 39 state organizations.
The AAUP's stated mission is ...
issued a report, "Threats to the Independence of Student Media," citing NMU and its treatment of Reed and the student newspaper as an example of aggressive behavior to stifle investigative reporting.
Personal
Reed is married to former ''Chicago Tribune'' editor Greg Stricharcuk.
Works
* ; Diversion Books, 2017,
* ; Penguin, 2010,
Awards and recognition
* 1996 Finalist, Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting, (with Carol Hernandez, Jeff Nesmith and Cheryl Reed) Dayton Daily News, "Military Secrets" and "Prisoners on the Payroll", investigations into handling misconduct cases in the military
* 1996 Winner, Harvard University's Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting, (with Carol Hernandez, Jeff Nesmith and Cheryl Reed) Dayton Daily News, "Military Secrets" and "Prisoners on the Payroll"
*2018 Winner, Book of the Year, for Traditional Fiction, ''Poison Girls.''
References
External links
Cheryl Reed's Blog*Cheyl Reed Discusses Poison Girls
Unveiled: The Hidden Lives of Nuns
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reed, Cheryl
1966 births
Living people
20th-century American journalists
20th-century American women journalists
American investigative journalists
Chicago Sun-Times people
Dayton Daily News
Northwestern University alumni
Ohio State University alumni
People from Lake Forest, Illinois
People from New York Mills, Minnesota
University of Missouri alumni
21st-century American women