Occupation Reporter Name Alexandra Berzon | Role Reporter Parents Marsha S. Berzon | |
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Education University of California, Berkeley, Vassar College Awards Pulitzer Prize for Public Service Notable credits Las Vegas Sun, The Wall Street Journal | ||
Alexandra Berzon is an American reporter for The Wall Street Journal covering Las Vegas, Nevada. She is best known for a 2008 series of investigative stories about the deaths of construction workers on the Las Vegas Strip for which the Las Vegas Sun won the annual Pulitzer Prize for Public Service and The Hillman Prize.
The Public Service Pulitzer cited "the courageous reporting by Alexandra Berzon, for the exposure of the high death rate among construction workers on the Las Vegas Strip amid lax enforcement of regulations, leading to changes in policy and improved safety conditions." The centerpiece was a four-part series entitled "Construction Deaths". Berzon began her investigation after nine construction workers died in eight separate accidents. Her series exposed the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's lax enforcement of regulations and highlighted the cozy relationship between safety regulators and builders.
The series was cited in Congressional hearings examining OSHA's record and led to changes in policy and improved safety conditions.
Life
Before the Sun, Berzon was a reporter for Red Herring, a business and technology magazine, and worked for the Anchorage Daily News and San Antonio Express-News. She has also reported for Salon.com, NPR and American Public Media's American RadioWorks. Her coverage of South Pacific islanders who had emigrated to New Zealand due to fears of sea level rise was part of series that won the George Polk Award for Radio Reporting in 2007.
Berzon graduated from Vassar College in 2001 and earned a master’s in journalism from the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. She grew up in Berkeley, California. Her mother, Marsha S. Berzon, is a circuit judge on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
In addition to the Pulitzer, Berzon has won Story of the Year, News Feature of the Year and the First Amendment Award from the Nevada Press Association.