I'm an investigative journalist based in Philadelphia who examines how public institutions use power and money.

My writing has appeared in major publications across the country., including USA Today, The Associated Press, The Appeal and The Center for Public Integrity.

I currently investigate corruption and wasteful government spending for PennLive, where my reporting on questionable government contracts in Dauphin County led to multiple resignations and the cancellation of hundreds of thousands of dollars in government contracts..The work was a finalist for the 2025 Livingston Award in Local Reporting.

While earning a master's degree in investigative journalism from Arizona State University, I worked with the Associated Press and FRONTLINE on a national investigation into non-shooting police deaths that was a 2025 Pulitzer Prize finalist and won an Edward R. Murrow Award.

Previously, I covered housing insecurity and homelessness at The Arizona Republic. My investigation into "waitlist shopping"—low-income families across the country applying to Arizona housing waitlists for a rare chance at affordable housing—earned an honorable mention in the 2023 SABEW Best in Business Awards.

I got my start as an enterprise reporter at Pittsburgh's Public Source, where my investigations into mental health, criminal justice and policing prompted city and county reforms and earned numerous state and regional awards. I received the 2021 Emerging Journalist Award from the Lenfest Institute and the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association.

Before pursuing journalism, I spent a year teaching English in Taichung, Taiwan as a Fulbright grantee and later studied Mandarin Chinese at National Taiwan Normal University in Taipei, Taiwan as a Huayu Enrichment Scholar. 

I have a bachelor's degree in nonfiction writing and political science from the University of Pittsburgh.

I enjoy wrangling data in R (GitHub here), hunting down public records and reaching new audiences on TV, the radio and, of course, TikTok.

When I'm not on deadline, you can find me rock climbing, studying Chinese and making mediocre pottery. 

Have a story idea or want to collaborate? Get in touch at julietterihl@gmail.com.