New York Times national editor Jia Lynn Yang sent out the following on Friday:
Reporting on crime and public safety requires clear-eyed thinking and curiosity about some of the most intractable problems facing America. Since the pandemic the picture has only grown more complex and politicized. And so I’m very excited that Michael Corkery is joining National as a correspondent to help us understand the people and places most affected by violence and the signs of disorder that don’t always show up in crime stats but that can deeply affect a community’s quality of life.
Michael comes to us from BizDay, where he has worked since 2014 producing a rich and fascinating body of work. In 2015 he worked on a series of stories about mandatory arbitration led by Jessica Silver-Greenberg, and with Rob Gebeloff, which won a George Polk award and was a Pulitzer finalist.
Most recently, he has written about the retail industry, telling stories about the people working and shopping in stores and how these businesses reflect both the good and bad aspects of American life. In 2020 Michael profiled a Korean immigrant whose Chicago beauty shop was looted and how his daughter reckoned with her father’s role as a business owner profiting in a mostly Black neighborhood, while also trying to help him pick up the pieces after the violent protests. He also recently wrote about the bike thieves of Burlington Vermont and the citizen detectives who went looking to recover the bikes.
Before the Times, Michael worked at the Wall Street Journal in a range of beats including housing during the 2008 meltdown. Before the Journal, he worked at the Burlington Free Press (VT) and the Providence Journal, where he did a year on the “night cops” desk, a job that entailed calling every police station in Rhode Island each night.
Please join me in welcoming Henri and Michael to National.
