Resume

John Dougherty

PO Box 644

Tempe, AZ

85280

Summary:

John Dougherty has been an investigative reporter for weekly and daily newspapers for more than 24 years. Dougherty covered business news for the Phoenix Gazette (1984-1988) and the Dayton Daily News (1989-1991) before becoming managing editor of the Half Moon Bay Review (CA) where the paper was named the second best weekly in California in 1990.

He returned to Arizona in 1991 to the East Valley Tribune where his coverage of the financial problems of former Gov. J. Fife Symington III attracted national attention. In 1992, Dougherty founded and published a free community newsweekly in Flagstaff that won first place for best Arizona weekly from the Arizona Press Club. In 1993, Dougherty joined the Phoenix New Times covering politics, economics and environmental issues before becoming the paper’s columnist in 2004. During this period he was named Arizona Journalist of the Year three times and Arizona's top investigative reporter twice and in 2006 was named Arizona’s best news columnist.

Dougherty started InvestigativeMedia.com in 2006 to provide freelance investigative reporting services to traditional media outlets as well as public interest groups. Media clients include the New York Times, CBS News/48 Hours, and WashingtonIndependent.com. Public interest groups include the Nevada Policy Research Institute. Dougherty graduated from Arizona State University in 1978 with a B.S. in journalism and added a B.S. in economics in 1981. He is also a licensed private investigator in Arizona.

Employment History

InvestigativeMedia.com

President

Clients: The New York Times, WashingtonIndependent.com, CBS News, The Arizona Republic, Southern Poverty Law Center, High Country News, Phoenix New Times, the Phoenix law firm of Stinson, Morrison & Hecker, and Nevada Policy Research Institute, a Las Vegas-based nonprofit advocacy group.

Phoenix New Times

Phoenix, Arizona

Staff writer 1993-2004

Staff columnist 2004-2006

Tenure: March 1, 1993 – September 1, 2006

Duties: During the first 11 years as a feature writer I produced one major story a month ranging between 4,000 and 8,000 words plus one news short up to 1,500 words. My stories covered a wide range of topics including sports, environmental, politics, government corruption, financial scandals, personality profiles, economic trends and land development. During this period I was named Virg Hill Arizona Journalist of the Year twice and runner up twice. My last two years I produced a weekly column where I combined investigative reporting with analysis and recommendation. I won first place for column writing from the Arizona Press Club in 2006 and second place in the “Best of The West” contest.

The Southwest Sage (defunct)

Flagstaff, Arizona

Founder, Owner, Editor and Publisher of a free weekly newspaper distributed in Northern Arizona

Tenure: August 1, 1992 – February 28, 1993
Duties: I handled all aspects of producing the paper including editing, reporting, writing, photography, layout, designing and building ads, distribution and business operations. Despite its short tenure (16 issues) the paper was recognized as the best weekly paper in Arizona by the Arizona Press Club and my cartoonist won first place in editorial cartooning competing against all newspapers in Arizona.

East Valley Tribune

Mesa, Arizona

General assignment and political reporter

August 1, 1991 – July 31, 1992

Duties: I focused on the scandal erupting around Governor J. Fife Symington and his troubled real estate business. I wrote a series of stories that foreshadowed much of the financial and political problems that would engulf Symington later in his tenure as governor. My work led to being named Virg Hill Arizona Journalist of the Year.

Half Moon Bay Review

Half Moon Bay, CA

Managing Editor and staff writer

August 1, 1990—July 31, 1991

Duties: I edited all news copy, assigned art, wrote headlines, designed pages, reported and wrote stories, wrote editorials and conducted several major investigations of the city’s relationship with a non-profit farmer’s organization that held a multi-million dollar arts festival each year. During my tenure the Review was named California’s second best weekly newspaper.

Dayton Daily News

Dayton, Ohio

Business reporter/Environmental reporter

January 15, 1989 – August 1990

Duties: I covered banking and the automobile industry. During my stint, I wrote a front-page Sunday story that was later credited during Senate Ethics Committee hearings for triggering the Keating Five investigation. I also wrote major stories on the roots of the Savings & Loan crisis and had several exclusive interviews with William Seidman, former head of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. I became an environmental reporter during the latter part of my tenure and completed a major computer-assisted project on toxic releases from Ohio industries that focused on the role of coal-fired power plants contributing to acid rain.

East Valley Tribune

Mesa, Arizona

Business reporter

April 1, 1988 – January 15, 1989

Duties: As a business reporter I wrote a wide range of stories about the collapse of the commercial real estate market and demise of the Arizona thrift industry, including stories documenting major federal law suits filed against thrift executives.

The Phoenix Gazette

Phoenix, Arizona

Business reporter

June 1984-April 1988

Duties: I primarily covered agriculture and water issues in Arizona. I focused on the widespread abuse of federal subsidy payments to corporate farmers, the degradation of millions of acres of grazing land by livestock interests and the complexities of Arizona’s water delivery system that is heavily subsidized by federal projects including the Central Arizona Project and hydroelectric power plants on the Colorado River. I also reported on the state’s high-tech industry and military bases.

The Washington Post

Washington, DC

Intermittently from September 1978 – March 1984.

Duties: Sports desk: I worked nights and weekends on the sports desk as a copy aide. I also covered high school, college and amateur sports.

Financial Desk: Regular contributor to Washington Monday, the Post’s business news tabloid where I wrote on a range of topics from United Nuclear Corporations nuclear accident in New Mexico to the business interests of members of the 1972 Washington Redskins Super Bowl Championship team.

Education:

B.S. Journalism, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, 1978

B.S. Economics, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, 1981

References:

John Mecklin

Editor

Miller-McCune Center for Research, Media and Public Policy

Santa Barbara, CA

john.mecklin@sbcglobal.net

Pat Murphy

Editor (retired)

The Arizona Republic