ProPublica is thrilled to announce that Barbara Gray will be joining our team as a senior editor for research. She will be succeeding Lynn Dombek, who is retiring after a 40-year career in news research. Gray starts on Aug. 28 and will be based in New York City.
Gray has spent the last 16 years training young journalists at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York. As associate professor and chief librarian of the school’s research center, she transformed the school’s exceptional investigative research instruction program. Before joining Newmark, Gray served as The New York Times’ director of news research.
Gray has taught thousands of journalists worldwide investigative research techniques and fact-checking. She has presented at the Investigative Reporters and Editors conference, the Global Investigative Journalism Conference, Investigathon New York and London, the American Society of Journalists and Authors conference, and the Association of Health Care Journalists conference. She has trained journalists for the Sunlight Research Desk at MuckRock, the Center for Community Media at Newmark J-School, the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas at the University of Texas at Austin, the Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Reporting, Columbia University’s Summer Investigative Reporting Course, Boston University’s College of Communication, the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University, the Magnum Photography and Social Justice Fellowship, WNYC Studios and American Public Media.
She was an advisory member of the research desk of the Investigative Dashboard of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project.
Gray has a master’s degree in library and information science from Long Island University’s Palmer School and a master’s in liberal studies from the CUNY Graduate Center.
“Luring Barbara away from academia and back to the newsroom is a big win for all of us at ProPublica,” said Assistant Managing Editor Alison Kodjak. “Her tremendous research expertise and her talent for sharing her skills will enrich our reporting and our reporters. We are excited to see her expand the great research team that Lynn Dombek built. ”
“At this time in history, I feel there is no better place for me than to be back in the newsroom,” said Gray. “I’m honored to lead the incredible research reporter team that contributes to ProPublica’s prolific, high-quality investigations that uncover the truth, hold the powerful accountable — and change people’s lives.”
