Brian M. Rosenthal

Brian Martin Rosenthal is an American journalist. He is currently an investigative reporter at The New York Times^[1] and the President of the Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE),^[2] the largest network of investigative journalists in the world.^[3]

He graduated from the Northwestern University, where he was Editor in Chief of The Daily Northwestern.^[4]

After interning at several local newspapers, he started his professional career in 2011 as a staff reporter at The Seattle Times, covering education and local government.^[5] While in Seattle, he was also part of a reporting team that won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize in Breaking News for coverage of a mudslide that killed 43 people.^[6]

He joined the Houston Chronicle in 2014 as a reporter based in the Austin Bureau, focused on government and politics, and health and human services.^[7] At the Chronicle, he wrote a 7-part series, "Denied," that revealed that Texas had secretly, systematically and illegally denied special education services to tens of thousands of children with disabilities. The investigation led the state to change its special education system, resulting in more than 100,000 more students receiving needed services.^[8] The series was a finalist for the 2017 Pulitzer Prize in Public Service.^[9]

In 2017, The New York Times announced Rosenthal's hire as part of an effort in “further expanding its already robust investigative team."^[10]

From 2017 to 2023, he worked as an investigative reporter on the Metro Desk, writing investigative stories about New York. He won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize in Investigative Reporting for exposing how leaders of the New York City taxi industry profited from predatory loans that shattered the lives of vulnerable cabdrivers.^[11] In 2023, he joined the Investigations Desk.^[12]

A 2020 profile in The Times said Rosenthal's signature investigations are known for citing "enormous sums of interviews": “nearly 100 current and former M.T.A. employees,” or “more than 100 other psychiatrists, nurses and officials” or “more than 300 experts, educators and parents.”^[13]

In addition to his recognition from the Pulitzer Prizes, Rosenthal has won the prestigious George Polk Award three times and the Selden Ring Award for Investigative Reporting.^[14] He won a national Emmy Award in 2019 for his work as a producer on a mini-documentary.^[15] He has also been a finalist for the Anthony Shadid Award for Journalism Ethics.^[16]

He has served since 2019 as an elected member of the Board of Directors of Investigative Reporters and Editors.^[17] He became the President in 2023.

Rosenthal grew up in Indiana.^[18] He lives in New York with his wife,^[19] Millie Tran, who is the chief digital content officer at the Council on Foreign Relations.^[20]