Lowell Bergman grew up in NYC and graduated with honors from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. His long career as an investigative reporter began in San Diego and later moved to New York where he held leading positions at ABC News, CBS’s 60 Minutes, CBS News, PBS, and The New York Times.
Bergman was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 2004 and is the recipient of numerous Emmys and other honors. His stories about California’s prison system revealed the conditions of solitary confinement and the staging of “gladiator” matches by correctional officers. His investigation into the tobacco industry was depicted in Michael Mann’s The Insider and featured Al Pacino as Bergman.
Bergman taught at UC Berkeley for 28 years where he founded the investigative reporting program at the Graduate School of Journalism. He founded the non-profit production company Investigative Studios where he works others, and participating graduate students, to produce award-winning documentaries shown on Netflix, HBO and PBS’s Frontline.