Communiqué
Three-time Pulitzer winner discusses new book and the power of investigative reporting.
< < Back toIn this episode of the Spectrum Podcast, Walt Bogdanich, a three-time Pulitzer Prize winning reporter, emphasizes the importance of investigative reporting while explaining his new book: When McKinsey Comes to Town: The Hidden Influence of the World’s Most Powerful Consulting Firm.
Bogdanich and his co-author Michael Forsythe have unveiled the secrets behind one of the world’s most powerful consulting firms, McKinsey and Company. They show how the firms tentacles ensnare and entangle almost all aspects of American life from our largest cities to our smallest town.
For example, the firm has worked with companies to promote opioids while at the same time representing the Food and Drug Administration assigned to regulate the industry.
McKinsey also represented cigarette manufacturers long after cigarettes were targeted as a major health hazard.
Until Bogdanich and Forsythe started digging, the company had been cloaked in secrecy since its inception in 1926. No one knew the firm’s clients or their fees until these investigative reporters started peeling back the layers of secrecy.
In the interview, Bogdanich also touts the need for good investigative reporting in the 21st century. He notes that with all the social media and political news silos, investigative reporting is more important than ever to look deeply and factually into issues.
Bogdanich, now with the New York Times, won his first Pulitzer in 1988 while at the Wall Street Journal for a series about substandard medical laboratories.
His second was for the Times in 2005 for a series about the safety record of American Railroads called “Death on the Tracks.”
His most recent Pulitzer was in 2008 called “Toxic Pipeline,” a series about dangerous pharmaceutical ingredients coming into American from China.