Megan Twohey is an American journalist with The New York Times. She has also written investigative reports for Reuters, the Chicago Tribune and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. She has investigated exploitive doctors, revealed untested rape kits, and uncovered a secret underground network of abandoned unwanted adopted children. Her investigative reports have led to criminal convictions and helped prompt new laws aimed at protecting vulnerable people and children. In 2017, Twohey and Jodi Kantor published a report about Harvey Weinstein detailing decades of sexual abuse allegations, and more than 80 women publicly accused Weinstein of sexually abuse or assault. This led to Weinstein's firing and helped start the viral #MeToo movement. That work was honored in 2018, when The New York Times was awarded the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service. Kantor and Twohey won the George Polk award and were named to Time magazine list of 100 most influential people of the year. Twohey and Kantor's subsequent book, She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story that Helped Ignite a Movement about the Weinstein investigation, was ranked as one 2019's best books by the New York Public Library, NPR, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and Time. The New YorkTimes itself said, "This book was one of our most anticipated titles of September". In addition to winning the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, Twohey was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting in 2014.
Biography
Twohey is from Evanston, Illinois. She went to Evanston Township High School, and graduated from Georgetown University in 1998. Twohey's parents were both involved in news media; her mother Mary Jane Twohey produced news for TV and her father John Twohey edited for the Chicago Tribune. Twohey initially joined The New York Times in 2016 to investigate Donald Trump's history of paying taxes, possible business ties to Russia, and his past treatment of women, and has become a regular contributor.
Investigative reports
Untested rape kits
In 2009, Twohey reported in the Chicago Tribune that several suburban police departments around Chicago were not submitting all rape kits for testing. In the following year, Illinois became the first U.S. state to require every rape kit be tested, and many other states in the U.S. followed soon after.
Predatory doctors
From 2010 to 2011, Twohey published a series of articles in the Chicago Tribune detailing cases of doctors who had been convicted of violent felonies or sex crimes and were still practicing and abusing patients. Her reporting has been credited for leading to new legislation and policies in Illinois aimed at protecting patients, for example requiring background checks for healthcare providers.
In 2016, Twohey and Michael Barbaro published several investigative pieces to The New York Times about sexual misconduct by then-presidential candidate Donald Trump. She has continued to report on the incidents into 2017. Trump has threatened to sue The New York Times if they don't take down the articles, though The Times refused.
Weinstein sexual abuse
In 2017, Twohey and Jodi Kantor co-wrote a The New York Times exposé on sexual misconduct by Harvey Weinstein. Twohey said they were encouraged to investigate untold stories, and that Dean Baquet, executive editor, and Rebecca Corbett, head of investigative projects, had supported them even though Weinstein had threatened to sue The New York Times and the exposé risked hurting advertising money. Twohey and Kantor had two meetings with Weinstein in person. Twohey, Kantor and Corbett also had multiple conversations with Weinstein's lawyers and publicists. A followup piece with fellow reporter Ellen Gabler added more allegations and expanded the Weinstein timeline. Twohey said it was an emotional experience when she started seeing friends and family saying #MeToo on her social media feed in the aftermath of the Weinstein allegations. Jezebel announced in 2018 Twohey and Kantor were publishing an international book, set to be published in Spring 2019, based on their investigation that will reveal more about what happened. They received a Sydney Award for their exposé. They were also given L.A. Press Club's Inaugural Impact Award and the McGill Medal for Journalistic Courage from the Grady College of Journalism. The New York Times won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for public service for Twohey's and Jodi Kantor's reporting, sharing the award with Ronan Farrow at The New Yorker, as well as the 2018 Gerald Loeb Award for Investigative business journalism. She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story that Helped Ignite a Movement by Twohey and Kantor was published by Penguin Press in September 2019.
Personal life
Her father John Twohey is a veteran journalist who joined the Chicago Tribune in 1977 after serving for five years as design director of the Washington Post. At the Tribune he held various newsroom management positions including associate managing editor for features, sports editor, Sunday magazine editor, and editor of the Op-Ed page. He also worked as a vice president of the Tribune Company's content-licensing agency. Earlier in his career, Twohey served as press secretary for Sargent Shriver’s 1972 Democratic vice presidential run and for Sen. Fred Harris ; Her mother Mary Jane Twohey worked as a Congressional aide and as a news producer at WETA-TV in Washington, DC before serving for many years as a spokesperson and media-relations manager for Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. Her husband Jim Rutman is a literary agent.
