Guardian US today announced the creation of its first-ever investigations team, to be led by Michael Hudson, most recently senior editor at the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. Hudson will lead a new editorial unit to investigate corporate and government misconduct, attacks on human rights, and other urgent challenges facing the United States. He starts on October 2nd.
Also today, Guardian US announced that UK Investigations correspondent Stephanie Kirchgaessner will be moving into a new role as Deputy Head of Investigations for the US, and that Will Craft — most recently of American Public Media — will serve as Data Editor. US Southern Bureau Chief Oliver Laughland will also be joining the team, serving as investigative correspondent while continuing his multimedia and narrative journalism. Guardian US is now conducting a search to fill two additional positions — an investigative reporter, and a senior investigative reporter — on the new unit.
US Head of Investigations Michael Hudson has been a senior editor at the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists over two tours totaling nearly a decade. He worked as a reporter, writer and editor on ICIJ’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Panama Papers investigation. From 2017-2019, Hudson was global investigations editor at The Associated Press, where he edited the AP’s Pulitzer-winning investigation of war crimes and corruption in Yemen and helped edit the AP’s coverage of the U.S. immigration crisis, which was a Pulitzer Finalist and was also honoured with a Robert F. Kennedy Award. He previously worked as a reporter for the Center for Public Integrity, the Wall Street Journal and the Roanoke (Va.) Times. Hudson, who spent more than a decade investigating the US subprime mortgage industry, is the author of The Monster: How a Gang of Predatory Lenders and Wall Street Bankers Fleeced America—and Spawned a Global Crisis (Times Books, 2010).
