Philadelphia -
This town produces some tough customers. Miami Herald investigative journalist and Philadelphia-born Julie K. Brown is one of them. The two-time George Polk Award winner in journalism - among many other well-deserved accolades - blew the lid off the Jeffrey Epstein scandal in 2019 with, among other pieces, her five-part Herald series entitled "Perversion of Justice" and subsequent 2021 book of the same title.
Her hard-nose reporting reopened the Epstein matter and spoiled efforts by the billionaires’ broligarchy and their protectors, led by Trump’s first-term Labor Secretary Alex Acosta, his second-term AGs Pam Bondi and Todd Blanche, and the likes of Alan Dershowitz to bury what will eventually be revealed as the greatest criminal cover-up in U.S. history.
Predictably, Brown has faced unending pressure tactics, legal actions, and death threats from the broligarchy and their acolytes due to her intrepid reporting. Even fellow journalists attack her because, well, her reporting reopened a story they chose no longer to cover. And, yes, they’re jealous, too..
Filmmaker Adam McKay, who is considering a film or TV series on Brown’s heroics, recently told journalist and podcaster Pablo Torre that, “The big thing I noticed was how Julie's tenaciousness was viewed as a negative by legacy news.” … “It’s telling how compliant to power U.S. news has become that an old-school grinder of a journalist like Julie wasn't welcome in the club.” Too bad, since now more than ever we desperately need old-school grinders like Ida B. Wells, Izzy Stone, Sy Hersh, Pete Carey, Walter Robinson, and, of course, Woodward and Bernstein.
Brown is gifted at shoe-leather tactics of developing and working sources. She jokingly warns those contacting her, however, not to do so during Phillies’ games. Yes, she’s Philly to the core. We're fortunate that her leadership will eventually - someday - deliver justice to countless victims of Epstein and his cronies and those who covered-up for them.
