Journalist, Author
Jenn Abelson is an award-winning investigative reporter for the Boston Globe's Spotlight Team. She has exposed sexual abuse at private schools, surgeons secretly operating on two patients at the same time, and dangerous college housing.
Jenn is a Pulitzer Prize finalist and investigative reporter for The Washington Post. She previously worked as an investigative reporter for the Boston Globe Spotlight Team. Her reporting there exposed sexual abuse at private schools, surgeons secretly operating on two patients at the same time, and dangerous college housing.
The fashion industry is built on glamour and allure, but many models, especially the very young, know it for something else: sexual exploitation and abuse. More than 50 models spoke to the Globe Spotlight Team about sexual misconduct they experienced on the job, from inappropriate touching to assault.
The FAA was warned in 2009 that people with terrorist ties were licensed to fly and repair aircraft. Eight years later, it is, incredibly, still the case. The flawed airman licenses are part of a troubling pattern of lax oversight of more than 1 million FAA-approved airmen — including pilots, mechanics, flight attendants, and other aviation personnel — that has made the agency vulnerable to fraud, and the public vulnerable to those who mean to do harm, a Spotlight Team review has found. The Society of Business Editors and Writers gave the series an honorable mention in investigative reporting,
Jenn and the Spotlight Team revealed for the first time how surgeons are secretly operating on two patients at the same time at Massachusetts General Hospital and other top hospitals around the country. The 2015 investigation led to state and federal probes and changes in the medical industry. The Scripps Howard Awards named it a finalist in investigative reporting in March 2016. The project also received honors from the Investigative Reporters & Editors Award, the National Headliner Awards, the Association of Healthcare Journalists, and The National Institute for Health Care Management Foundation.
This 2014 series was nominated as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in public service for revealing how a collision of greed, neglect, and mismanagement is endangering the lives of young people in America's college capital. Jenn wrote the first-day story reconstructing the fire that killed Boston University student Binland Lee. The series was also named a finalist for the Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting and the American Society of News Editors Local Accountability Reporting Award.
This two-year investigation was one of the first in the nation to uncover widespread fish mislabeling at restaurants. The series received awards in 2012 from the National Press Club, the Society for Features Journalism, the National Headliner Competition, the Society of Business Editors and Writers, and the Taylor Family Award for Fairness in Newspapers. Jenn was nominated as finalist for the Livingston Award for Young Journalists for her work on this series.
A 2010 investigation of the exploitation of immigrant workers at the Upper Crust Pizzeria chain resulted in federal inquiries and the company ultimately filing for bankruptcy protection. The project won two awards from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers and the National Headliner Competition for Business News Coverage.