Sacha Pfeiffer

Sacha Pfeiffer (born September 7, 1971) is an American Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist and radio host. In November 2018, she joined NPR as an investigations correspondent.^[2]

Pfeiffer is known for her work with the Spotlight team run by The Boston Globe.^[3] Their stories on the Catholic Church's cover-up of clergy sex abuse earned the newspaper the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service.^[4]

Pfeiffer was born in Columbus, Ohio, the daughter of Janet (née Preskenis) and Richard Pfeiffer.^[5] She has a younger sister, Sonya, and a younger brother, Seth. Her father, a former state senator, was the city attorney for Columbus, Ohio, and her mother is a retired teacher. Her mother is of Lithuanian descent. Her grandmother was Alice Preskenis, a devout Catholic^[6] and a lifelong resident of South Boston who spent 40 years working at Pober's Clothing Store^[7] and specialized in dressing children.^[8] Her uncle was Ken Preskenis, a well-known figure in South Boston through his involvement in community outreach.^[9] Pfeiffer graduated from Bishop Watterson High School.^[10]

She left Ohio for college, moving to Boston. She graduated with a B.A. in liberal studies with a double major in English and history and M.A. from Boston University.^[11] In 2005, she was named a John S. Knight Journalism Fellow at Stanford University.^[12] She started her journalism career at the Dedham Times in Dedham, Massachusetts.^[13] Pfeiffer originally joined The Boston Globe as a reporter in 1995, left in 2008 to work for WBUR-FM in Boston and NPR, returning to The Boston Globe in 2014.^[14] During her nearly seven years in public radio, Pfeiffer was a local host of All Things Considered and Radio Boston at WBUR, as well as a guest host of NPR's nationally syndicated On Point and Here & Now.^[15][16] Her on-air work received a National Edward R. Murrow Award for broadcast reporting, as well as numerous other awards.^[17]

Pfeiffer wrote at The Boston Globe about wealth, philanthropy, and nonprofits^[18] and has also covered travel,^[19] legal affairs, and the Massachusetts state courts.

She volunteers as an English-as-second-language teacher.^[20]

After the Spotlight team published its work, the team created a book about the events. Pfeiffer is a co-author of Betrayal: The Crisis in the Catholic Church.^[21]

In November 2018, she joined NPR as an investigations correspondent^[2] and an occasional guest host for some of NPR's national shows.^[22]

In the 2015 film Spotlight, Pfeiffer is portrayed by Canadian actress Rachel McAdams. McAdams was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance.