Brooke Williams

Brooke Williams is an investigative reporter for Investigative Newsource, a nonprofit journalistic enterprise embedded within the KPBS newsroom. Together they produce investigations and data analysis. Williams has practiced investigative journalism on both coasts. Prior to the opening of the institute, Williams was a reporter for The San Diego Union-Tribune, where she covered Indian gambling and investigated finances at the city of San Diego, which was facing a near-bankruptcy crisis. In 2005, Williams was a finalist for the Livingston Award for Young Journalists and won a Freedom of Information award from the California Newspaper Publishers Association for an investigation into the city’s land holdings. In 2009, she won first place for investigative reporting and “best in show” awards from the San Diego Press Club and first place for investigative reporting from the Society of Professional Journalists for a series of stories that led the federal government to launch a criminal investigation into two companies that hauled away debris after the devastating wildfires of 2007. Prior to working for the Union-Tribune, Williams was a writer for the Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit investigative journalism organization in Washington, D.C. She wrote a chapter in the “Buying of the President,” a national bestseller, and worked on “Windfalls of War,” an investigation of defense contracts, which won a George Polk Award. Williams graduated from the Missouri School of Journalism in 2001. She enjoys modern dance and ballet and practices yoga.