Wesley Lowery facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Wesley Lowery
Education	Ohio University
Occupation	Journalist
Employer	Freelance
Notable work	"Fatal Force" project; They Can't Kill Us All: Ferguson, Baltimore, and a New Era in America's Racial Justice Movement
Awards	Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting (2016)

'Wesley Lowery (born 1990) is an American journalist. He has worked for major news organizations like CBS News and The Washington Post. He was a key part of The Posts "Fatal Force" project. This project won the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting in 2016. He also wrote a book called They Can't Kill Us All. In 2017, he started working as a political expert for CNN. Later, in 2020, he became a reporter for 60 in 6. This was a shorter version of 60 Minutes made for Quibi.

Early Life and Education

Wesley Lowery went to Shaker Heights High School. He then studied at Ohio University. While in college, he was the main editor of the campus newspaper, The Post. He also gained experience by interning at several newspapers. These included The Detroit News, The Columbus Dispatch, and The Wall Street Journal.

A Journalist's Career

Lowery started his career as a reporting fellow at the Los Angeles Times. After that, he moved to the Boston Globe in 2013. There, he became a reporter who covered many different political topics. He reported on important events like a famous football player's murder trial. He also covered Boston's mayoral election. And he reported on the search for the Boston Marathon bombers.

In 2014, a group called the National Association of Black Journalists gave Lowery an award. They named him "Emerging Journalist of the Year." This award recognized him as a promising new talent in journalism.

Lowery joined The Washington Post in 2014. In 2015, The Washingtonian magazine called him a "rising star." They said he was a "terrific reporter." They noted his skill in finding good sources and writing interesting stories. He also helped with team reporting. From 2018 to 2024, Lowery helped choose winners for the American Mosaic Journalism Prize.

Reporting from Ferguson

In August 2014, Lowery reported on the Ferguson protests for The Washington Post. During his reporting, Lowery and another reporter, Ryan Reilly, had a disagreement with police at a McDonald's. Many journalism groups and their employers spoke out against this event. They said it was an unfair attempt to stop reporters from doing their job. Later, legal issues arose, but all charges against Lowery and Reilly were dropped. This happened in May 2016.

The Fatal Force Project

Lowery was a main reporter for The Post's "Fatal Force" project. This project created a large database. It tracked 990 police shootings in 2015. At that time, the U.S. government did not have a full record of police killings. Most of the information came from groups like Fatal Encounters.

Lowery and his team used these databases. They also looked at local newspaper reports, police websites, and social media. From all this information, they built The Post's "Fatal Force" database. This important project won the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting in 2016. After this, the Justice Department started a plan to collect better data on police use of force.

Writing They Can't Kill Us All

Lowery's first book was published on November 15, 2016. It is called They Can't Kill Us All: Ferguson, Baltimore, and a New Era in America's Racial Justice Movement. The book was published by Little, Brown. The book talks about the Black Lives Matter movement. It connects the movement to U.S. history and Lowery's own experiences.

The Seattle Times listed it as a book they were excited to read. The Boston Globe said Lowery gave new ideas about reporting on race in America. The New York Times noted that Lowery wrote the book when he was only 25. They called his book "electric" because it was well-researched and clearly told.

Lowery won the 2017 Christopher Isherwood Prize for Autobiographical Prose for his book. This award came from the Los Angeles Times Book Prizes. In 2022, it was announced that AMC would turn the book into a TV series. Don Cheadle and Lowery himself will be executive producers for the show.

Working at Quibi

Lowery joined CBS News in 2020. There was some talk that he left The Washington Post because of their rules about social media. These rules limited some of his comments online. At CBS News, he worked on 60 in 6. This was a shorter, six-minute version of the show 60 Minutes. It was made for the platform Quibi.

Teaching at American University

On June 26, 2023, American University announced exciting news. Wesley Lowery would join their School of Communication. He became an associate professor of investigative journalism. In this role, he also became the executive editor of the Investigative Reporting Workshop. This is an independent newsroom based at American University.