mentor background
Thomas Peele
investigative Journalist
Edsource.org
Thomas Peele is a Pulitizer Prize winning investigative reporter and author with 40 years in journalism. His work often focuses on public safety and accountability of public instiutions and public employees. His journalism career began in 1983 at a small weekly newspaper. He has a B.A. in journalism from Long Island University and an MFA in writing from the University of San Francisco. In addition to his Pulitzer for stories on the tragic Ghost Ship fire in Oakland, he has won more that 70 journalism awards including the (Ralph) McGill Medal for Journalistic Courage, and the Tom Renner Award from Investigative Reporters and Editors for reporting on organized crime. He is also the author of Killing the Messenger, a book about the 2007 assassination of Oakland journalist Chauncey Bailey. Prior to joining EdSource in 2020, he was an investigative reporter for the Bay Area News Group for 20 years. He is also a continuing lecturer at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.