Sacha Pfeiffer (born September 7, 1971) is an American
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...
-winning
investigative journalist
Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years rese ...
and radio host. In November 2018, she joined
NPR
National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...
as an investigations correspondent.
Pfeiffer is known for her work with the Spotlight team run by ''
The Boston Globe
''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...
''. She was a member of the group of reporters whose work in exposing the
Roman Catholic church's cover-up of clergy sex abuse earned the newspaper the
2003
File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...
Pulitzer Prize for Public Service
The Pulitzer Prize for Public Service is one of the fourteen American Pulitzer Prizes annually awarded for journalism. It recognizes a distinguished example of meritorious public service by a newspaper or news site through the use of its journalis ...
.
Personal life and career
Pfeiffer was born in
Columbus, Ohio
Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...
, the daughter of Janet (
née
A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...
Preskenis) and
Richard Pfeiffer. She has a younger sister, Sonya, and a younger brother, Seth. Her father, a former state senator, was the city attorney for Columbus, Ohio, and her mother is a retired teacher. Her mother is of
Lithuanian
Lithuanian may refer to:
* Lithuanians
* Lithuanian language
* The country of Lithuania
* Grand Duchy of Lithuania
* Culture of Lithuania
* Lithuanian cuisine
* Lithuanian Jews as often called "Lithuanians" (''Lita'im'' or ''Litvaks'') by other Jew ...
descent. Her grandmother was Alice Preskenis, a devout
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
, and a lifelong resident of South Boston who spent 40 years working at Pober's Clothing Store, and specialized in dressing children. Her uncle was Ken Preskenis, a well-known figure in South Boston through his involvement in community outreach. Pfeiffer graduated from
Bishop Watterson High School
Bishop Watterson High School is a parochial, college preparatory high school located in Columbus, Ohio.
History
Bishop Watterson High School, founded in 1954 under the auspices of the Diocese of Columbus, is a co-educational college preparator ...
.
She left Ohio for college, moving to Boston. She graduated with a B.A. in liberal studies with a double major in English and history and M.A. from
Boston University
Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...
. In 2005, she was named a John S. Knight Journalism Fellow at
Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
. She started her journalism career at the ''Dedham Times'' in
Dedham, Massachusetts
Dedham ( ) is a town in and the county seat of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 25,364 at the 2020 census. It is located on Boston's southwest border. On the northwest it is bordered by Needham, on the southwest b ...
.
[ Pfeiffer originally joined ''The Boston Globe'' as a reporter in 1995, left in 2008 to work for ]WBUR-FM
WBUR-FM (90.9 FM) is a public radio station located in Boston, Massachusetts, owned by Boston University. It is the largest of three NPR member stations in Boston, along with WGBH and WUMB-FM and produces several nationally distributed programs ...
in Boston and NPR
National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...
, returning to ''The Boston Globe'' in 2014. During her nearly seven years in public radio, Pfeiffer was a local host of ''All Things Considered
''All Things Considered'' (''ATC'') is the flagship news program on the American network National Public Radio (NPR). It was the first news program on NPR, premiering on May 3, 1971. It is broadcast live on NPR affiliated stations in the United ...
'' and ''Radio Boston'' at WBUR, as well as a guest host of NPR's nationally syndicated ''On Point
''On Point'' is a radio show produced by WBUR-FM in Boston and syndicated by American Public Media (APM). The show addresses a wide range of issues from news, politics, arts and culture, health, technology, environmental, and business topics, t ...
'' and '' Here & Now.'' Her on-air work received a National Edward R. Murrow Award for broadcast reporting, as well as numerous other awards.
Pfeiffer wrote at ''The Boston Globe'' about wealth, philanthropy, and nonprofits, and has also covered travel, legal affairs, and the Massachusetts state courts.
She volunteers as an English-as-second-language teacher.
After the Spotlight team published its work, the team created a book about the events. Pfeiffer is a co-author of ''Betrayal: The Crisis in the Catholic Church''.
In November 2018, she joined NPR as an investigations correspondent[ and an occasional guest host for some of NPR's national shows."Sacha Pfeiffer: Correspondent, Investigations"]
''npr.org''. Retrieved 2020-09-01.
Portrayal in media
In the 2015 film ''Spotlight
Spotlight or spot light may refer to:
Lighting
* Spot lights, automotive auxiliary lamps
* Spotlight (theatre lighting)
* Spotlight, a searchlight
* Stage lighting instrument, stage lighting instruments, of several types
Art, entertainment, an ...
'', Pfeiffer is portrayed by Canadian actress Rachel McAdams
Rachel Anne McAdams (born November 17, 1978) is a Canadian actress. After graduating from a theatre degree program at York University in 2001, she worked in Canadian television and film productions, such as the drama film ''Perfect Pie'' (200 ...
. McAdams was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pfeiffer, Sacha
1971 births
American investigative journalists
The Boston Globe people
Boston University College of Arts and Sciences alumni
Writers from Columbus, Ohio
American women journalists
American columnists
American women columnists
Living people
American radio personalities
American people of Lithuanian descent
Journalists from Ohio
21st-century American journalists
20th-century American journalists
21st-century American women writers
20th-century American women writers
NPR personalities