WSJ’s Carreyrou to receive Freedom of the Press Award

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press will honor Wall Street Journal reporter John Carreyrou with a Freedom of the Press Award for his reporting on the Theranos scandal.

Amelia Nitz and Jenn Topper of the Committee write, “‘There were untold numbers of patients who could’ve been dealing with faulty blood tests that could’ve had significant implications for their health,’ said Michael Siconolfi, the senior editor at The Wall Street Journal who worked with Carreyrou on the Theranos stories. ‘It’s impossible to know how many lives he protected because of his reporting.’

“While Carreyrou reported on Theranos, several of his sources became the targets of a heavy-handed intimidation campaign aimed at silencing them. Theranos’s lawyers also used threats of litigation against Carreyrou and The Wall Street Journal in attempts to have the story killed. But Carreyrou pressed on.

“‘The company was very aggressive in trying to dissuade him from the story,’ said Stefanie Ilgenfritz, the health and science bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal. ‘They hired lawyers who were very aggressive in trying to dissuade him, in trying to dissuade The Wall Street Journal, and in trying to dissuade his sources from speaking to us.'”

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