Paige Pfleger, award-winning reporter for WOSU News
COLUMBUS, OHIO, APRIL 9, 2020 – Paige Pfleger, health reporter at WOSU News, received the Rising Star–Broadcast Award from the Ohio Associated Press. The award recognizes promising early-career journalists in the state. Pfleger was also named reporter of the year.
In the year and a half since she joined WOSU News, Pfleger has covered the intersections of the opioid crisis, criminal justice and healthcare. She has taken listeners to unexpected places, from neighborhoods in Columbus ravaged by overdoses, to Ohio’s Amish country. It’s clear from Pfleger’s work that her subjects trust her with the most intimate and sometimes heartbreaking stories of their lives – a privilege she does not take lightly. Though health is a topic often driven by sickness, or death, Pfleger focuses on those who are working hard on solutions – from a group that knocks on doors to treat shootings as an infectious disease, to a unit of prisoners fighting the addiction that put them behind bars.
Pfleger has become known in Columbus as one of the lead voices covering the case of William Husel – a doctor from Mount Carmel Health system accused of giving “excessive and potentially fatal” doses of pain medication to dozens of patients, who subsequently died. Pfleger’s reporting remained objective, sifting through a web of complex medical jargon and narratives. That objectivity paid off, and Pfleger has gained exclusive access to nurses and pharmacists who worked alongside Husel.
“My career has taken me to many places,” Pfleger said, “but I’ve never felt as proud to live and report anywhere as much as Central Ohio. I have learned and grown so much while reporting in our dynamic community, and I am humbled that people from vastly different backgrounds have trusted me with their stories.”
About Paige Pfleger
Before joining the staff of WOSU, Paige Pfleger worked in the newsrooms of NPR, Vox, Michigan Radio, WHYY and The Tennessean. She spent three years in Philadelphia covering health, science and gender, and her work has appeared nationally in The Washington Post, Marketplace, PRI’s The World, Atlas Obscura and more.
About 89.7 NPR News
The only all-day NPR news radio station in Central Ohio, 89.7 NPR News specializes in news and public affairs programming, including All Sides with Ann Fisher, Morning Edition, On Point and All Things Considered. Live audio streaming of the station is available on your smart speaker, at wosu.org and through the free WOSU Public Media mobile app.
About WOSU Public Media
The mission of WOSU Public Media is to engage, inform and inspire our diverse community. An NPR and PBS affiliate, WOSU is a noncommercial multimedia organization serving over two million citizens in Central Ohio through broadcast, digital, programming, events and education experiences. A licensee of The Ohio State University, member-supported WOSU Public Media moves its headquarters and studios to the new 15+HIGH District on campus in 2021. Learn more at wosu.org.
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