As part of its Class of 2026 graduation celebrations, Columbia Journalism School (CJS) is pleased to welcome back Julie K. Brown. An investigative reporter for the Miami Herald, Brown was the recipient of the 2020 Columbia Journalism Award during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when graduation ceremonies were held remotely. She will speak at the May 19 ceremony.
Brown’s 40-year career has reshaped public understanding of power, accountability and justice, marked not only by its impact, but also by its rigor. Among her most consequential work, her 2018 investigation, “Perversion of Justice,” led to the arrests of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, the resignation of the U.S. secretary of labor and a cascade of consequences across politics, business, media and academia. This reporting prompted the release of millions of Justice Department files and sparked a global reckoning over wealth, influence and accountability.
Her efforts to bring officials and survivors on the record set a powerful example of investigative reporting at its most consequential, demonstrating the persistence and care required to expose systems of abuse.
She has received two George Polk Awards, the Robert F. Kennedy Award for Human Rights Reporting, the Hillman Prize and PEN America’s Voice of Courage Award.. In 2020, she was named one of TIME magazine’s 100 most influential people. The CJS faculty expressed a strong desire to invite her back to campus to properly recognize her achievements.
A frequent contributor to national broadcast outlets, Brown has appeared on CNN, MSNBC and NBC News, and her work has been widely profiled in major publications. She is also the author of “Perversion of Justice: The Jeffrey Epstein Story,” which is being adapted into a limited television series.
Columbia Journalism School’s May 19 ceremony honors the 115th graduating class since the school’s founding in 1912 and marks each student’s entry into a global alumni community of more than 15,000 graduates across 102 countries.
