Michael Berens, an investigative reporter for Reuters in its Chicago bureau, is retiring after a 42-year career in journalism.
Berens was a winner of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting. He was a Pulitzer finalist in 2017, his third, and has been recognized with many national awards.
Berens career began at The Columbus Dispatch as a copy boy who sorted mail, delivered newspapers to the staff, grabbed the editor’s lunch and assembled the newsroom Christmas tree. While still a junior at The Ohio State University, he landed a full-time night police beat reporter position.
Berens’ work has received dozens of national awards, including multiple honors from the National Press Club; the White House Correspondents Association; Investigative Reporters and Editors; Associated Press Media Editors and Society of American Business Editors and Writers.
Additionally, his work in recent years has been recognized with a Worth Bingham Prize for Investigative Journalism; Selden Ring Award for Investigative Journalism, the Global Editors Network Data Journalism Award, and Gerald Loeb Award for Distinguished Business and Financial Journalism.
He is a frequent journalism trainer for media-related organizations, specializing in database analysis, for groups such as NewsTrain of Associated Press and Media Editors; IRE workshops; and the California Healthcare Foundation at the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism. He’s a former adjunct professor for the graduate program at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.
