David Burnham (born 1933) is an American

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 author based in Washington, D.C. He rose to prominence in 1970 while writing a series of articles for ''The'' ''New York Times'' on police corruption, which inspired the 1973 film ''

Serpico ''Serpico'' is a 1973 American neo-noir biographical crime drama film directed by Sidney Lumet and starring Al Pacino in the title role. The screenplay was adapted by Waldo Salt and Norman Wexler from the book of the same name written by ...

''. He is also known for writing a series of articles about labor union activist

Karen Silkwood Karen Gay Silkwood (February 19, 1946 – November 13, 1974) was an American chemical technician and labor union activist known for raising concerns about corporate practices related to health and safety in a nuclear facility. She wor ...

, who mysteriously died while en route to meet Burnham to share evidence that the nuclear facility where she worked knew that its workers were exposed to unhealthy levels of plutonium. He is currently the co-director of the

Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) is a nonprofit and nonpartisan data gathering, data research, and data distribution organization in the S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. TRAC collects big d ...

, a project of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.

Awards and honors

* 1968:

George Polk Award The George Polk Awards in Journalism are a series of American journalism awards presented annually by Long Island University in New York in the United States. A writer for Idea Lab, a group blog hosted on the website of PBS, described the awar ...

for Community Service * 1972: Newspaper Reporters Association of New York City Schaefer Gold Typewriter Award for Public Service * 1987:

Alicia Patterson Foundation The Alicia Patterson Foundation (APF) program was established in 1965 in memory of Alicia Patterson Alicia Patterson (October 15, 1906 – July 2, 1963) was an American journalist, the founder and editor of ''Newsday''. With Neysa McMein, she cre ...

Fellowship * 1990:

Investigative Reporters and Editors Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc. (IRE) is a nonprofit organization that focuses on improving the quality of journalism, in particular investigative journalism. Formed in 1975, it presents the IRE Awards and holds conferences and training ...

Award for Best Book: ''A Law Unto Itself: Power, Politics, and the IRS'' * 1992: Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship in Bellagio, Italy * 2003:

John Jay College of Criminal Justice The John Jay College of Criminal Justice (John Jay) is a public college focused on criminal justice and located in New York City. It is a senior college of the City University of New York (CUNY). John Jay was founded as the only liberal arts ...

Honorary Doctorate Degree in Humane Letters * 2006: National Freedom of Information Act Hall of Fame Inductee

Bibliography

Books

* ''The Rise of the Computer State.'' New York: Random House, 1983. * ''A Law Unto Itself: Power, Politics, and the IRS.'' New York: Random House, 1989. * ''Above the Law: Secret Deals, Political Fixes, and Other Misadventures of the U.S. Department of Justice.'' New York: Scribner, 1996.

Selected articles

"Graft Paid to Police Here Said to Run Into Millions."
''The New York Times'', April 25, 1970.

''The New York Times'', November 19, 1974.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Burnham, David Living people 1933 births American male journalists