Morton Mintz (www.mortonmintz.com), Nieman '64, has been a senior adviser to the Nieman Foundation's Watchdog Project since its inception in 1996.

He was a reporter at The Washington Post for 30 years, is the author of four books and co-author of four more, and served as chair of the Fund for Investigative Journalism. He is the recipient of numerous honors, including the Worth Bingham, Heywood Broun, Raymond Clapper, and George Polk Memorial Awards, and, twice, the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild Awards for Public Service.

During most of his career at the Post, Mintz reported on corporate crime and misconduct, with a strong focus on the automotive, tobacco and drug industries. He broke the story of the child-deforming drug Thalidomide in 1962 and went on to report extensively on unsafe and ineffective medicines and medical devices, including the disastrous Dalkon Shield IUD. He also covered the Supreme Court, campaign financing and wasteful Pentagon weapons systems.

In 1999 and 2000, in a precursor to NiemanWatchdog.org, Mintz, sponsored by Tompaine.com, wrote a series of 28 articles that raised a broad range of questions that the press should have been but was not asking federal candidates.