Best of 2022: Investigative Reporting

It requires mettle to be an investigative reporter, and the best in the business channel that fortitude into stories worthy of the subject matter — stories written with bravery, precision, and empathy.

成为一名调查记者需要勇气，而商业渠道中最优秀的人则需要坚韧不拔地报道值得主题的故事——以勇敢、精确和同理心撰写的故事。

Our picks on this list, as well as a few suggested by the writers themselves, examine sexual violence, drug addiction, and government policy that destroys families, among other topics.

我们在这份清单上的选择，以及作者自己建议的一些内容，探讨了性暴力、吸毒成瘾、破坏家庭的政府政策等主题。

It’s dark stuff, but in the hands of these writers, the stories sing.

这是黑暗的东西，但在这些作家的手中，故事会唱歌。

The tunes may be mournful, but they’re also gorgeous.

曲调可能悲伤，但也很华丽。

You’ll want to listen until the final notes.

你会想听直到最后的音符。

## Kate Price Remembers Something Terrible

## 凯特·普莱斯想起了一些可怕的事情

Janelle Nanos | The Boston Globe Magazine | July 28, 2022 | 11,329 words

珍妮尔·纳诺斯 |波士顿环球杂志| 2022 年 7 月 28 日 | 11,329 字

“Even if many of us never find them again, they may never really be lost,” writes Janelle Nanos about our memories.

“即使我们中的许多人再也找不到它们，它们也可能永远不会真正消失，”贾奈尔·纳诺斯在谈到我们的记忆时写道。

For most of her life, Kate Price had felt, deep in her body, that she had been wronged when she was a child.

在凯特·普赖斯一生的大部分时间里，她内心深处都觉得自己小时候受到了委屈。

When she met Nanos in 2012, Price had already spent decades interrogating her own memory and history, but together — as journalist and survivor — they embarked on a journey to make sense of Price’s childhood, and to find evidence that she was sexually abused by her father and maternal grandfather, and sold for sex to truckers who drove through Pennsylvania.

当她在 2012 年遇见纳诺斯时，普莱斯已经花了几十年的时间审视自己的记忆和历史，但作为记者和幸存者，他们一起踏上了一段旅程，以了解普莱斯的童年，并找到证据证明她曾遭受父亲和外祖父的性虐待，并被卖给开车穿越宾夕法尼亚州的卡车司机进行性交易。

It’s a challenging read about child abuse, long-lasting trauma, memory, and family, but also a remarkably told story 10 years in the making about a woman who risked everything to discover the truth, and who defied the odds and has managed to build a happy life.

这是一本关于虐待儿童、长期创伤、记忆和家庭的具有挑战性的读物，同时也是一个精彩的故事，讲述了一个女人冒着一切风险去发现真相，并克服困难并成功建立幸福生活的故事，历时十年。

The piece plays eerie visual tricks on the reader’s eye, from Erin Clark’s double-exposure photos to subtly moving layouts that make you question what you’re seeing; this imagery, combined with audio clips, take you deep into this incredible story.

这篇文章在读者的眼睛上玩起了怪异的视觉技巧，从艾琳·克拉克的双重曝光照片到微妙移动的布局，让你质疑你所看到的东西；这些图像与音频剪辑相结合，带您深入了解这个令人难以置信的故事。

—Cheri Lucas Rowlands

——切里·卢卡斯·罗兰兹

Janelle Nanos recommends two reads about family, loss, and memory:

Janelle Nanos 推荐两本关于家庭、失去和记忆的读物：

“We Had Such Trust, We Feel Such Fools” by Merope Mills in The Guardian

《卫报》梅洛普·米尔斯的“我们如此信任，我们感到如此愚蠢”

This horrific story about a UK hospital’s failure to save the life of a young child — written by the child’s mother — was for me a reminder that it’s important to trust your own instincts when facing a medical crisis in order to ensure that your loved ones get the care they need.

这个由孩子母亲写的关于英国一家医院未能挽救一名幼儿生命的可怕故事提醒我，在面临医疗危机时，相信自己的直觉非常重要，以确保您所爱的人得到他们需要的护理。

“Our Daughter Had a Year Left to Live” by Myra Sack in The Boston Globe Magazine

迈拉·萨克 (Myra Sack) 在《波士顿环球报》杂志上发表的“我们的女儿还剩一年的生命”

This essay made me smile and weep, and brought on a cascade of other emotions as I thought about the prospect of what I’d do if facing a similar challenge with my own children.

这篇文章让我微笑和哭泣，当我想到如果我自己的孩子面临类似的挑战时我会做什么时，也带来了一系列其他情绪。

It was written by the mother of a child diagnosed with Tay-Sachs disease who decided to celebrate her with a lifetime’s worth of birthdays.

这本书的作者是一位被诊断患有泰-萨克斯病的孩子的母亲，她决定为她庆祝一生的生日。

## “We Need to Take Away Children.”

##“我们需要带走孩子。”

Caitlin Dickerson | The Atlantic | August 8th, 2022 | 28,600 words

凯特琳·迪克森 |大西洋 | 2022 年 8 月 8 日 | 28,600 字

In my original blurb for this story, when it was featured in Longreads’ Top 5 newsletter, I wrote that Caitlin Dickerson’s “examination of the Trump administration’s family separation policy is a reporting tour de force and an American horror story that should be read and studied as long as the republic stands.” I remain steadfast in this belief.

当这篇文章出现在 Longreads 的前 5 名时事通讯中时，我在最初的简介中写道，凯特琳·迪克森“对特朗普政府家庭分居政策的审查是一篇报道杰作，也是一个美国恐怖故事，只要共和国存在，就应该阅读和研究。”我仍然坚定这一信念。

Assign it in journalism classes, government seminars, law courses, social work degree programs.

将其分配到新闻课程、政府研讨会、法律课程、社会工作学位课程中。

Every American should know this story and grapple with its devastating contents.

每个美国人都应该了解这个故事，并应对其毁灭性的内容。

And, lest we act like we’re past the cruelty that Dickerson so masterfully unveils, family separation is still happening.

而且，为了避免我们表现得好像我们已经经历了迪克森如此巧妙地揭露的残酷行为，家庭分离仍在发生。

Read this story, then use it to fuel demands that policymakers and law enforcement cease family separation once and for all.

阅读这个故事，然后用它来推动政策制定者和执法部门一劳永逸地停止家庭分离的要求。

—Seyward Darby

——西沃德·达比

## How a Massacre of Nearly 300 in Syria Was Revealed

## 叙利亚近 300 人的屠杀是如何被揭露的

Ümit Üngör and Annsar Shahhoud | New Lines Magazine | April 27, 2022 | 7,881 words

Ümit Üngör 和 Annsar Shahhoud |新线杂志 | 2022 年 4 月 27 日 | 7,881 字

This piece instantly came to mind when I thought about investigative reporting.

当我想到调查报道时，我立即想到了这篇文章。

It’s haunted me.

它困扰着我。

A harrowing read, it begins with a description of the videos that inspired Ümit Üngör and Annsar Shahhoud to start the investigation: two men, in broad daylight, executing 41 civilians and dumping the bodies in a pre-dug pit prepared with car tires for incineration.

读起来令人痛心，它首先描述了激励 Ümit Üngör 和 Annsar Shahhoud 开始调查的视频：两名男子在光天化日之下处决了 41 名平民，并将尸体倾倒在一个预先挖好的坑中，坑中备有汽车轮胎用于焚烧。

Detailed vividly, I warn it contains upsetting descriptions of violence.

详细生动，我警告它包含令人不安的暴力描述。

The callousness of these videos stood out for Üngör and Shahhoud, even though, as researchers of mass violence and genocide in Syria and elsewhere, they have watched thousands of hours of distressing footage.

这些视频的冷酷无情让昂戈尔和沙胡德印象深刻，尽管作为叙利亚和其他地方大规模暴力和种族灭绝的研究人员，他们已经观看了数千小时的令人痛苦的视频。

For previous research, they had created a Facebook profile of a young, pro-regime woman from an Alawite middle-class family — “Anna” — and used her to interview dozens of Assad’s perpetrators.

在之前的研究中，他们创建了一位来自阿拉维派中产阶级家庭的年轻亲政权女性“安娜”的 Facebook 个人资料，并利用她采访了数十名阿萨德的肇事者。

After narrowing their scope with on-the-ground research, they scoured Facebook with this profile, finally recognizing the main shooter from the videos in a photo.

通过实地研究缩小了范围后，他们用这个个人资料搜索了 Facebook，最终从照片中的视频中认出了主要枪手。

Friending him on Facebook messenger, “Anna” leads him on a catfish dance for months before finally approaching the topic of the massacre and convincing him to confess that he “killed a lot of people.” Tracking down a killer and getting him to admit the soul-destroying acts he has committed is an impressive feat.

“安娜”在 Facebook Messenger 上加他为好友，带领他跳了几个月的鲶鱼舞，最后才谈到大屠杀的话题，并说服他承认自己“杀了很多人”。追查凶手并让他承认自己所犯下的毁灭灵魂的行为是一项令人印象深刻的壮举。

But it took a toll, and to learn more about what Üngör and Shahhoud went through during the investigation, listen to The Guardian‘s podcast series “Searching for the Shadow Man” — they could not keep “Anna” alive for much longer.

但这造成了损失，要了解更多关于 Üngör 和 Shahhoud 在调查过程中经历的事情，请收听《卫报》的播客系列“寻找影子人”——他们无法让“安娜”活太久。

—Carolyn Wells

——卡罗琳·威尔斯

## Untold

## 不为人知

Paula Lavigne and Tom Junod | ESPN | April 11, 2022 | 31,519 words

宝拉·艾薇儿和汤姆·朱诺 | ESPN | 2022 年 4 月 11 日 | 31,519 字

There are few sports scandals more horrifying than Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky being indicted in 2011 for the sexual abuse of dozens of young boys.

很少有体育丑闻比 2011 年宾夕法尼亚州立大学助理橄榄球教练杰里·桑达斯基 (Jerry Sandusky) 因性虐待数十名男孩而被起诉更令人震惊。

It killed the program’s reputation; it led to the ouster of legendary head coach Joe Paterno, a man revered in the town of State College and beyond.

它损害了该计划的声誉；这导致了传奇主教练乔·帕特诺(Joe Paterno)的下台，他在州立学院城及其他地区都受到尊敬。

But decades before, the Penn State football system met another monster in its midst.

但几十年前，宾夕法尼亚州立大学的橄榄球系统遇到了另一个怪物。

Todd Hodne, a young and aggressive defenseman, was arrested for rape in 1978.

托德·霍德尼 (Todd Hodne) 是一名年轻、好斗的防守队员，1978 年因强奸罪被捕。

Paterno ousted him from the locker room, but the end of Hodne’s football career didn’t mean the end of his atrocities.

帕特诺把他赶出了更衣室，但霍德内足球生涯的结束并不意味着他暴行的结束。

With patience and empathy, Lavigne and Junod piece together the saga in an investigation that’s something more than a magazine story.

凭借耐心和同理心，艾薇儿和朱诺在调查中将这起传奇故事拼凑起来，这不仅仅是杂志故事。

For the women who crossed Hodne’s ruinous path, it’s an exorcism, a defiant testimonial that desecration doesn’t have to mean destruction.

对于那些走过霍德涅毁灭性道路的女性来说，这是一种驱魔，一种挑衅的证明，亵渎并不一定意味着毁灭。

For the reader, it’s a crucial reminder that the sports world has a way of coddling even its outcasts.

对于读者来说，这是一个重要的提醒：体育界甚至有一种方式来溺爱被排斥的人。

And for the journalists who searched and listened and wrote this outstanding work, it’s yet another laurel in their already legendary careers.

对于那些搜索、聆听和撰写这部杰出作品的记者来说，这是他们本已传奇的职业生涯中的又一桂冠。

Between the ongoing true-crime podcast wave and Netflix phenomena like Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, it’s clear that our society has developed a lurid fixation with serially violent men.

在持续不断的真实犯罪播客浪潮和《怪物：杰弗里·达默的故事》等 Netflix 现象之间，很明显，我们的社会已经对连环暴力的男人产生了一种可怕的迷恋。

“Untold” will help you remember that every voyeuristic frisson comes at the price of another person’s life.

《不为人知》将帮助你记住，每一次偷窥狂的颤抖都是以他人生命为代价的。

—Peter Rubin

——彼得·鲁宾

Tom Junod on his favorite investigation of the year:

汤姆·朱诺德谈他今年最喜欢的调查：

“Sources: Commanders Boss Snyder Claims ‘Dirt’ on NFL Owners, Goodell” by Seth Wickersham, Don Van Natta, and Tisha Thompson in ESPN

“资料来源：指挥官老板斯奈德声称 NFL 老板古德尔有‘污点’”，作者：Seth Wickersham、Don Van Natta 和 Tisha Thompson，ESPN

Full disclosure: The people who wrote this are my friends and colleagues at ESPN.

全面披露：写这篇文章的人是我在 ESPN 的朋友和同事。

But my admiration for this story about NFL owner Daniel Snyder goes well beyond the personal.

但我对 NFL 老板丹尼尔·斯奈德这个故事的钦佩远远超出了个人的范畴。

Simply put: The question that the writers started with was provocative enough — with all of Snyder’s baggage, why doesn’t the NFL just get rid of him?

简而言之：编剧们一开始提出的问题就足够具有挑衅性了——带着斯奈德的所有包袱，为什么 NFL 不干脆摆脱他呢？

But the answer was, literally, jaw-dropping: Snyder remains an NFL owner because he’s let it be known that he’s investigated all the other owners.

但答案确实令人瞠目结舌：斯奈德仍然是 NFL 老板，因为他让大家知道他已经调查了所有其他老板。

I mean, when I read that, I’ll admit that I was like, “Holy cow — these guys better have the goods.” That they had the goods is proven by all the disclosures that keep following in the original story’s wake, and the fact that Snyder is putting the Washington Commanders up for sale.

我的意思是，当我读到这篇文章时，我承认我当时想，“天哪——这些人最好有货。”原始故事之后不断披露的所有信息以及斯奈德正在出售华盛顿指挥官的事实都证明了他们拥有这些货物。

But even more telling is the experience of reading the story.

但更能说明问题的是阅读故事的体验。

Sure, it has all the investigative revelations promised by its rather ungainly digital title.

当然，它拥有其相当笨拙的数字标题所承诺的所有调查揭露。

But it’s also an expert exercise in melding investigative and narrative journalism, one that, by its end, convinces readers that they know very little about how rich and powerful people live — about what they value and what they might be willing to destroy.

但这也是一种融合调查性和叙事性新闻的专业实践，最终让读者相信，他们对富人和有权势的人如何生活知之甚少——他们看重什么，可能愿意摧毁什么。

## ‘These Kids Are Dying’ — Inside the Overdose Crisis Sweeping Fort Bragg

## “这些孩子快死了”——席卷布拉格堡的服药过量危机

Seth Harp | Rolling Stone | September 4, 2022 | 5,922 words

塞斯竖琴|滚石 | 2022 年 9 月 4 日 | 5,922 字

They’re young, healthy members of the U.S. Army stationed at Fort Bragg.

他们是驻扎在布拉格堡的年轻、健康的美国陆军成员。

So why are far too many of them dying by accidental fentanyl overdose?

那么，为什么有太多人因意外服用芬太尼过量而死亡呢？

That’s the question that Seth Harp set out to answer in this deeply reported piece for Rolling Stone, but he ended up discovering much more about the needless reasons Fort Bragg soldiers are dying while stateside, despite a lack of transparency from top brass at the military installation.

这是赛斯·哈普在《滚石》杂志这篇深入报道的文章中打算回答的问题，但他最终发现了更多关于布拉格堡士兵在美国本土死亡的不必要原因，尽管军事设施的高层缺乏透明度。

Is it the nature of the work at a place that houses mostly “male soldiers in combat-arms units”?

这是在一个主要居住着“战斗部队中的男性士兵”的地方工作的性质吗？

Could the personality traits that make for elite soldiers make them more likely to dismiss the risks of drug use?

精英士兵的性格特征是否会让他们更有可能忽视吸毒的风险？

Could the horrors of serving in Afghanistan and the recent U.S. withdrawal have spawned trauma that causes soldiers to self-medicate?

在阿富汗服役的恐怖经历和美国最近的撤军是否会造成创伤，导致士兵自我治疗？

In this unflinching piece, Harp does the work to try to find out and call the U.S. Army to account.

在这篇毫不畏惧的作品中，哈普试图找出真相并要求美国陆军承担责任。

Aside from the accidental overdose crisis killing soldiers at Fort Bragg, perhaps Harp’s most alarming discovery is about the most common way that soldiers stationed there die: “Forty-one Fort Bragg soldiers took their own lives in 2020 and 2021, making suicide the leading cause of death.

除了布拉格堡士兵意外服用过量危机死亡之外，Harp 最令人震惊的发现也许是驻扎在那里的士兵最常见的死亡方式：“2020 年和 2021 年，有 41 名布拉格堡士兵自杀，这使得自杀成为主要原因。

A spokesman for the Army, Matthew Leonard, confirmed that no other base has ever recorded a higher two-year suicide toll.” —Krista Stevens

陆军发言人马修·伦纳德证实，没有其他基地记录过比这更高的两年自杀人数。” —克里斯塔·史蒂文斯

You can also browse all of our year-end collections since 2011 in one place.

您还可以在一处浏览我们自 2011 年以来的所有年终系列。