Credit: Janet Bark Photography

The San Diego Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists is pleased to announce our 2020 Journalist of the Year: KPBS investigative reporter Claire Trageser.

Claire was doing the hard work of reporting on police misconduct and racial disparities in criminal justice long before the current wave of interest in the topic. And she always approaches her stories with tact and humility.

In February 2019, she unveiled a six-part series called DR J’S: How A Gang Shooting Changed Southeast San Diego. This was a deep dive into a seminal moment for San Diego’s Black community: a horrific crime that led to a major increase in police presence, which many in the neighborhood felt created whole new problems that are still evident today.

Throughout 2019, Claire also reported on police records newly made public thanks to SB 1421. She broke the story of former San Diego police Officer Donald Moncrief, who was accused of sexual assault, resigned before receiving any discipline and was never charged with a crime. Her reporting led to a lawsuit that forced the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department to turn over five years of records on complaints against deputies.

Claire’s reporting on criminal justice has featured deeply personal stories. In August 2019, she released a two-part feature on the controversial “felony murder rule,” which allows a defendant to be charged with murder even if they didn’t kill anyone. Claire told the story of Shawn Khalifa, who is incarcerated after a conviction under the rule for a robbery he took part in when he was 15. And she has done stories on celebrations and victories, too, like Southeast San Diego reclaiming the intersection of Euclid and Imperial Avenues as the “4 Corners of Life” instead of the “4 Corners of Death.”

To top things off, Claire often finds interesting and newsworthy stories where no one else is looking, like the large number of broken trash bins in San Diego or the Humane Society’s controversial practice of releasing feral cats back onto the streets. In addition to her excellent reporting, Claire has also been a leader in the local journalism community, previously serving as SD-SPJ president and organizing the SPJ Regional Conference in San Diego in 2017. 

Claire earned this award with her dedication to seeking out and telling impactful stories that truly matter. Unfortunately, we cannot celebrate Claire’s work in person this year. But we hope you will join us for a virtual ceremony the evening of Aug. 24. More details will follow!