ProPublica Hires Data Reporter Jeff Ernsthausen

by ProPublica

ProPublica announced today that Jeff Ernsthausen will be joining its staff as a data reporter.

Ernsthausen comes to ProPublica from the Atlanta-Journal Constitution, where he has worked since 2013 as a data reporter on the investigative team. Along with colleagues, Ernsthausen helped conduct the most comprehensive review of police shootings in Georgia history, as well as flaws in how the state handles them. The investigation led to grand jury reform that was signed into law in 2016.

He was also on the reporting team that exposed widespread sexual abuse among the nation's doctors, with perpetrators only marginally punished and often allowed to keep practicing medicine. The series was a finalist for the 2017 Pulitzer Prize in national reporting, and won a Philip Meyer Award, Scripps Howard Award and IRE Award.

With degrees in economics and history, Ernsthausen worked as a financial and economic analyst prior to his journalism career.

"Jeff is a motivated reporter who has innovated new data strategies in his newsroom for uncovering documents, and he has deftly used his data skills to tell stories that hold the powerful accountable," said Ryann Grochowski Jones, ProPublica deputy data editor. "We are thrilled to have him join our team."

"I chose to become a journalist in no small part because I was inspired by the work coming out of ProPublica," said Ernsthausen. "I'm excited to join an institution and staff with a track record of exposing hard truths about our society and holding accountable those who abuse their power over others."