Joanna Zuckerman Bernstein

I'm a freelance journalist in Mexico City. I previously worked as a staff reporter at Reuters' Mexico bureau, and I've also written for the Miami Herald, the Albany Times Union, and Al Jazeera America.

Last year, as part of a team, I was named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for a Miami Herald investigation into how a police task force laundered millions of dollars for criminal groups —without making a single arrest.

At Reuters, I co-wrote two reports for Reuters on air bag defects stemming from the Takata factory in northern Mexico. In the first exclusive, we revealed that internal company documents showed Takata had struggled for years to maintain air bag quality. Our story was cited by U.S. regulators in an order to Takata. In a subsequent special report, we chronicled the history of the plant in Coahuila, Mexico. The Society of Publishers in Asia recognized our work with an honorable mention for excellence in business reporting.

I was also part of a team of J-School students to win an Investigative Reporters and Editors award for our investigation into payday lending affiliated with Native American tribes. I graduated with honors from the Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism at the Columbia Journalism School, and I also received my B.A. from Columbia, where I majored in English. I speak Spanish fluently.