Brett Murphy is a reporter on ProPublica’s national desk. His work uncovering a new junk science in the justice system known as 911 call analysis won a George Polk Award, among other honors. Murphy joined the newsroom in May 2022, after working as an investigative reporter at USA Today, where he covered labor, criminal justice and the federal government.
Murphy has won several national journalism awards, including the International Livingston Award for his investigation into a U.S. military attack on its own security forces in Afghanistan, which killed dozens of civilians, including as many as 60 children. He and a team shared a Hillman Prize for their series on whistleblower retaliation inside police departments. Murphy’s stories on widespread labor abuses in California’s port trucking industry was a finalist for the 2018 Pulitzer Prize and spurred a raft of reforms.
Before USA Today, Murphy covered courts and hurricanes for the Naples Daily News and other Gannett newspapers. He also co-founded the “Local Matters” newsletter, a weekly roundup of the best investigative and watchdog reporting from local newsrooms around the country.
Murphy is based in Brooklyn.
