Best of 2023: Research – Long Read

Today’s “Best of 2023” list recognizes five notable studies read in 2023. Below, our editors recommend in-depth reporting on child night labor, migrant ships lost at sea, preserving historical records, the criminalization of pregnant women, and penis enlargement surgery. .

hannah dreier | new york times magazine | September 18, 2023 | 7,705 words

One of the hallmarks of good research is that it leads to changes in regulations and laws. The other problem is that the people being investigated are trying to build a wall of silence. The first one happened when Hannah Dreyer started her career earlier this year. new york times A series on immigrant child labor. The second incident occurred while reporting on this heart-wrenching and heartbreaking revelation. “Soon, slaughterhouses across the country began handing out flyers with my picture on them,” Dreyer wrote. Of course they did. When a 14-year-old Guatemalan immigrant named Marcos nearly loses his arm in an industrial accident during a night shift at a Perdue-run chicken processing plant, it’s hard to argue his innocence. Marcus’ age is not listed in the accident report, and the state investigation lasted less than two weeks without ever visiting the plant and blaming the tragedy on “inadequate training.” It is difficult to claim innocence. It’s hard to claim innocence in a rural community in Virginia where many children work night shifts, and when teachers arrive in the morning to find their students asleep in their cars, fresh from the factory. There’s a lot of innocence here. It’s just being stolen from people who are just trying to help their families. Dreyer’s reporting is both human and probing, revealing that the children she profiles are much more than stories of adversity and damning statistics.They are The kids. It doesn’t matter what Purdue and Tyson think. —PR

Renata Brito and Felipe Dana | Associated Press | April 12, 2023 | 4,351 words

One morning in May 2021, Tobago fishermen spotted a strange boat off the coast. To their horror, they discovered more than a dozen dead people on board. Among the things left behind: Tattered clothes. Prayer beads. A water bottle with a label written in Arabic. phone. Local authorities will eventually obtain a contact list. All these items and more will provide evidence about this fateful journey. In this immersive feature, Renata Brito and Felipedana use video storytelling, photography, and interactive graphics to reconstruct what happened to these men. He was part of a group of 43 migrants who left Mauritania 135 days ago, intending to head to Europe along the dangerous Atlantic route via the Canary Islands to start a better life. Like the fate of other similar ships, the pirogue got lost and washed ashore in the Caribbean Sea. Brito and Dana spent her two years following clues and piecing together a story that spanned three continents. Their investigation, based on police documents, forensic experts and interviews with loved ones of migrants who went missing on the other side of the world, identified more than three-quarters of the people on the boat. It was done. DNA testing also confirmed the identity of one man, resulting in closure for at least one family. “These migrants are as invisible in death as they were in life,” they write about them and the larger African refugee crisis. “But even ghosts have families.” These “ghost ships” are ships of hope for them, but many of them disappear at sea and are forgotten. Brito and Dana tell one’s deeply moving human story in reporting with extraordinary empathy. —CLR

Megan Greenwell | Wired | June 27, 2023 | 7,987 words

I was already transfixed as this piece’s lead unfolded line by line, so I moved a little closer. In 1973, a fire at the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis destroyed 17 million Official Military Personnel Files (OMPF). This is a service record to unlock “home loans, business loans, education loans”. Health insurance and medical care. life insurance; job training programs; And other benefits have long been considered part of the nation’s debt to veterans. ” For reporter Megan Greenwell, one personnel file was personal. Her grandfather, who passed away in 2012, served in the Army in 1943. Did her grandfather’s OMPF miraculously survive the devastating fire? Greenwell completed a Standard Form 180 Request for Military Records to find out. This story about the U.S. federal government could easily have been muddied by a bureaucracy that didn’t want to share secrets about the fires. But Greenwell brings us fascinating humans who lovingly apply amazing science and technology to restore and decipher records damaged by fire, water, and moisture. For these technicians, each record, and therefore each individual, is valuable and reveals their identity. But did Greenwell find her grandfather’s personnel file? Was he one of the few to survive the fire, or was it carefully restored? We can’t afford to mess that up. You have to read the article to find out. —K.S.

Shoshanna Walter | Revealed from the Center for Investigative Reporting | June 29, 2023 | 7,167 words

Sometimes an investigation starts with just one word. In 2016, as part of legislation to expand government support for opioid addiction prevention and treatment, Congress amended existing child welfare policies. “Federal law has long required that newborns vaguely identified as being ‘under the influence’ of illegal drugs be reported to Child Protective Services,” Shoshana Walter explains. “In this new iteration, lawmakers removed the word ‘illegal.'” The change was intended to help infants exposed to prescription opioids in the womb, but in reality it was devastating. created a dragnet. Based on careful research, Walter uncovers the case of a new mother who took antidepressants and common cold medicine and reportedly tested positive for fentanyl in her epidural. (a particularly infuriating detail that I repeat out loud over and over again, including to my own doctor). Some reported using Suboxone, a drug prescribed to recovering addicts to stay clean, and as a result had their children removed. One mother told Walter that she was “like a disgusting game.” “They don’t want you to take illegal street drugs, so we give you this drug here. But if you take this drug, we will punish you and ruin your family. ” This amazing story new york times magazine, a work about the unintended consequences of government policy. On a deeper level, it’s a story about the American impulse to marginalize and punish women who don’t fit into culturally prescribed boxes. —SD

Eva Coffman | Co-published with ProPublica and The New Yorker | June 26, 2023 | 8,601 words

A long time ago, I made a documentary about cosmetic surgery. Having stood in several operating rooms while silicone wedged itself into various cracks, I have remained morbidly curious about this field. But when I decided to join Eva Coffman on “The Secret World of Penis Enlargement,” I still wasn’t quite sure what to expect. It’s certainly not all that dark or graphic. Coffman inserted a Penuma (a silicone implant “shaped like a hot dog bun”), an invention of urologist James Elist, under the skin of the penis to tighten the area around the penis and relax it. Don’t be afraid to explain how to increase the length you have. Also in her operating room, she is ready to stimulate your senses by describing the sights and smells that come with inverted penis surgery. She also did her homework in other ways, speaking with 49 dilated patients. This is a high number for a field notorious for being shrouded in shame and secrecy. Her meticulous investigation pays off when she discovers the post-surgery horrors some men have endured, including implants becoming infected and dislodged, corners breaking off, and even breaking through the skin. The confidence she gained from the case study is as impressive as the access granted to her by Elisto himself, who lets her into his inner sanctum and dispels his god-like complex. I was allowed to witness it firsthand. Coffman fairly points out that all pioneering surgeries involve some initial trial and error, but what struck me was that most men “have at least an average level of experience before going under the knife.” He had a great physique.” (Looks like there’s not a lot of education going on about body dysmorphic disorder, so you need to get it fast.) This enlightening article may not be for the faint of heart, but it’s great journalism It is a work. —C.W.