[BK-2020-09.git] / en.wikipedia.org / Julia_Angwin / article.txt

{{short description|American investigative journalist}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Julia Angwin
| image              = Julia Angwin Headshot.jpg
| caption            = Angwin in 2020
| birth_name         = 
| birth_date         = 
| birth_place        = [[Champaign, IL]]
| death_date         = 
| death_place        = 
| alma_mater         = [[University of Chicago]] {{small|([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])}}<br />[[Columbia University]] {{small|(MBA Graduate School of Business)}}
| occupation         = Investigative journalist, Co-founder of [[The Markup]]
| awards             = Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting
| spouse             = 
| children           = 
| website            = {{URL|https://www.juliaangwin.com}}
| relatives          = 
}}

'''Julia Angwin''' is a Pulitzer Prize-winning<ref>{{cite web |title=Julia Angwin in Talks to Return to Tech News Site She Helped Found |publisher=The Wall Street Journal |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/julia-angwin-in-talks-to-return-to-tech-news-site-she-helped-found-11558736426 |date=May 24, 2019 |access-date=April 29, 2021}}</ref> [[United States|American]] investigative journalist,<ref name="kirkusreviews_2014"/> New York Times bestselling author, and entrepreneur. She was a co-founder and editor-in-chief of [[The Markup]], a nonprofit newsroom that investigates the impact of technology on society. She was a senior reporter at ''[[ProPublica]]'' from 2014 to April 2018<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.propublica.org/people/julia-angwin |series=Profiles |title=Julia Angwin|publisher=[[ProPublica]] |date=nd |access-date=September 24, 2018}}</ref> and staff reporter at the New York bureau of ''The Wall Street Journal'' from 2000 to 2013. Angwin is author of non-fiction books, ''Stealing MySpace: The Battle to Control the Most Popular Website in America'' (2009) and ''[[Dragnet Nation]]'' (2014).<ref name="Angwin_DragnetNation_2014">{{cite book |title=Dragnet Nation: A quest for privacy, security, and freedom in a world of relentless surveillance |first=Julia |last=Angwin |publisher=[[Times Books]] |date=February 25, 2014 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/dragnetnationque0000angw/page/304 304] |isbn=978-0805098075 |url=https://archive.org/details/dragnetnationque0000angw/page/304 }}</ref> She is a winner and two-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in journalism.<ref>{{cite web |title=The 2017 Pulitzer Prize Finalist in Explanatory Reporting |publisher=Pulitzer.org |url=https://www.pulitzer.org/finalists/julia-angwin-jeff-larson-surya-mattu-lauren-kirchner-and-terry-parris-jr-propublica |date=2017 |access-date=April 29, 2021}}</ref>

== Early life and education ==
Julia Angwin was born in Champaign, Illinois, to university professor parents who moved to Silicon Valley in 1974 to work in the emerging personal computer industry. She grew up in Palo Alto, where she learned to code in the 5th grade.<ref name="MySpace Odyssey">{{cite web |url=https://archives.cjr.org/critical_eye/myspace_odyssey.php  |title=MySpace Odyssey |author=James Marcus |date=March 18, 2009 |access-date=May 12, 2021}}</ref> During summers, she worked at the Hewlett-Packard Demo Center in Cupertino.<ref name="What the hell happened at The Markup? Part 1: Former editor-in-chief Julia Angwin on Recode Decode">{{cite web |url=https://www.vox.com/podcasts/2019/4/26/18517875/julia-angwin-markup-sue-gardner-jeff-larson-craig-newmark-facebook-kara-swisher-decode-podcast |title=What the hell happened at The Markup? Part 1: Former editor-in-chief Julia Angwin on Recode Decode |author=Eric Johnson|date=April 26, 2019 |access-date=May 12, 2021}}</ref> Angwin graduated from the University of Chicago in 1992 with a B.A. in mathematics.<ref name="Bill Moyers">{{cite web |url=https://billmoyers.com/guest/julia-angwin/ |author=[[Bill Moyers]] |title=Julia Angwin Investigative Journalist |access-date=May 12, 2021}}</ref> She was named a Knight-Bagehot Fellow at Columbia Journalism School in 1998.<ref name="New Knight-Bagehot director Narisetti talks about its changes">{{cite web |url=https://talkingbiznews.com/we-talk-biz-news/new-knight-bagehot-director-narisetti-talks-about-its-changes/ |author=[[Chris Roush]] |title= New Knight-Bagehot director Narisetti talks about its changes |date=October 2, 2018 |access-date=May 12, 2021}}</ref> She then completed her MBA at Columbia University with a concentration in accounting in 1999.<ref name="MIT Media Lab Director's Fellow">{{cite web |url=https://www.media.mit.edu/people/jangwin/overview/ |title=Director's Fellow |access-date=May 12, 2021}}</ref>

==Career==
Angwin got her start in journalism as an undergrad at The University of Chicago where she served as editor-in-chief of the college newspaper, the Chicago Maroon from 1991 to 1992.<ref name="Chicago Maroon">{{cite web |url=https://www.chicagomaroon.com/article/2017/4/11/newsletter-april-11/ |author=Pete Grieve |title=Newsletter for April 11 |date=April 11, 2017 |access-date=May 12, 2021}}</ref> Upon graduation she moved to California where she worked briefly as a business writer for The Contra Costa Times.<ref name="Newsletter for April 11">{{cite web |url=http://www.columbia.edu/cu/pr/96_99/19441.htm |author= Kim Brockway |title=Columbia University News |date=November 30, 1998 |access-date=June 15, 2021}}</ref> She then moved to Washington D.C. to work as a reporter for States News Service covering Congress for regional newspapers.<ref name="What really happened to the news business">{{cite web |url=https://www.digitalriptide.org/person/julia-angwin/ |author= John Geddes |title=Digital Riptide |date=September 9, 2013 |access-date=June 15, 2021}}</ref>

In 1996 she joined the San Francisco Chronicle as a technology reporter where her coverage of the software industry included several stories of the Justice Department lawsuit against Microsoft.<ref name="1975-2012 Knight-Bagehot fellows">{{cite web |url=https://ahbj.sabew.org/sabew/archive/1975-2009-knight-bagehot-fellows/|author= John Geddes |title=Society of American Business Editors and Writers |date=April 2013 |access-date=June 15, 2021}}</ref> She also led an investigation that revealed how few Blacks and Latinos were employed in Silicon Valley companies and that many leading tech firms had been cited by the U.S. Department of Labor for affirmative action violations.<ref name="The Digital Divide / High-tech boom a bust for blacks, Latinos">{{cite web |url=https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/The-Digital-Divide-High-tech-boom-a-bust-for-3007911.php|author= Laura Castaneda |title=San Francisco Chronicle|date=April 2013 |access-date=June 15, 2021}}</ref>

In 2000, “The Wall Street Journal” hired her as a staff reporter covering business and technology from their New York bureau. During her 13 years at the Journal, Angwin broke stories, led important investigations, and published numerous exposes into the growing tech sector.<ref name="Moyers_Dragnet_2014">{{cite web |url=http://billmoyers.com/episode/no-escaping-dragnet-nation/  |author=[[Bill Moyers]] |work=Moyers & Company |title=No Escaping Dragnet Nation |date=March 14, 2014 |access-date=September 24, 2018}}</ref> 
 
A November 23, 2009 article by Angwin and Geoffrey A. Fowler, entitled "Volunteers Log Off as Wikipedia Ages" on the "unprecedented numbers of the millions" of Wikipedia editors that were quitting, was featured on the front page.<ref name="WSJ_Angwin_2009">{{cite news |title=Volunteers Log Off as Wikipedia Ages |first1=Julia |last1=Angwin |first2=Geoffrey A. |last2=Fowler |date=November 23, 2009 |work=[[Wall Street Journal]]|access-date=September 24, 2018 |url=https://cacm.acm.org/news/53027-volunteers-log-off-as-wikipedia-ages/fulltext}}</ref>
 
From 2010 to 2013, she led an investigative team that published the groundbreaking, including the Wall Street Journal's pioneering "What They Know," series which exposed how privacy was being eroded with most people completely unaware that it was happening.<ref name="economist_2014">{{cite web |url= https://www.economist.com/news/books-and-arts/21597870-maintaining-your-privacy-harder-you-think-watching-watchers |title=Online privacy: Watching the watchers |work=[[The Economist]] |date=March 1, 2014 |access-date=September 24, 2018 }}</ref>

In 2014, Angwin left The Wall Street Journal to join the investigative, nonprofit newsroom [[ProPublica]], as a senior reporter and investigative journalist. In 2016, Angwin was lead author of an article revealing [[Algorithmic bias|machine bias]] against Black people in criminal risk assessment that used [[machine learning]] systems.<ref name="propublica_Angwin_2016">{{Cite web|url=https://www.propublica.org/article/machine-bias-risk-assessments-in-criminal-sentencing|title=Machine Bias|date=May 23, 2016|publisher=[[ProPublica]]|first1=Julia |last1=Angwin |first2=Jeff |last2=Larson |first3=Lauren |last3=Kirchner |first4=Surya |last4=Mattu|access-date=September 24, 2018 |quote="There's software used across the country to predict future criminals. And it's biased against blacks."}}</ref>

In a 2016 article entitled "Google Has Quietly Dropped Ban on Personally Identifiable Web Tracking", Angwin revealed that Google had changed its privacy policy allowing Google to merge users' [[personally identifiable information]]. Following publication of her article, Google announced that this precluded advertisement targeting through [[Gmail]] keywords.<ref name="propublica_Angwin_Gmail_2016">{{cite web |first = Julia |last = Angwin |title = Google Has Quietly Dropped Ban on Personally Identifiable Web Tracking: Google is the latest tech company to drop the longstanding wall between anonymous online ad tracking and user's names |url = https://www.propublica.org/article/google-has-quietly-dropped-ban-on-personally-identifiable-web-tracking |publisher = [[ProPublica]] |date = October 21, 2016 |access-date=September 24, 2018 |url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20161127094249/https://www.propublica.org/article/google-has-quietly-dropped-ban-on-personally-identifiable-web-tracking |archive-date = November 27, 2016 |df = mdy-all }}</ref>

==The Markup==
{{main|The Markup}}
In April 2018, Angwin and Jeff Larson left ProPublica to found ''The Markup'', described on their website as a "nonpartisan, nonprofit newsroom" that will produce "data-centered journalism" to uncover "societal harms of technology".<ref>{{cite web |title=Ethics Policy |publisher=The Markup |url=https://themarkup.org/ethics.html |date=September 23, 2018 |access-date=September 23, 2018}}</ref> They were joined by [[Sue Gardner]], as a co-founder, and several ProPublica staff members.<ref name="NiemanLab">{{cite web |url=http://www.niemanlab.org/2018/09/watch-out-algorithms-julia-angwin-and-jeff-larson-unveil-the-markup-their-plan-for-investigating-techs-societal-impacts/ |title=Watch out, algorithms: Julia Angwin and Jeff Larson unveil The Markup, their plan for investigating tech's societal impacts |quote="Journalists in every field need to have more skills to investigate those types of decision-making that are embedded in technology." |first=Christine |last=Schmidt |date=September 24, 2018 |access-date=September 24, 2018  |work=Nieman Journalism Lab (NiemanLab) [[Nieman Foundation for Journalism]] [[Harvard University]] |location=Cambridge, Mass}}</ref><ref name="nytimes_Bolles_2018">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/23/business/media/the-markup-craig-newmark.html |title=News Site to Investigate Big Tech, Helped by Craigslist Founder |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=September 23, 2018 |access-date=September 23, 2018 |first=Nellie |last=Bowles}}</ref> Harvard University-based [[NiemanLab]] described Angwin and Larson as a "journalist-programmer team" at ProPublica who uncovered stories such as "how algorithms are biased".<ref name="propublica_Angwin_2016"/>

In support of The Markup's mission to investigate technology and its effect on society, [[Craig Newmark]] committed $20 million to the publication alongside philanthropic gifts from the [[John S. and James L. Knight Foundation]], the [[Ford Foundation]], the [[John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation]], and the Ethics and Governance of Artificial Intelligence Initiative, a joint project of the MIT Media Lab and the Harvard Berkman-Klein Center for Internet and Society.<ref name="nytimes_Bolles_2018"/>

In April 2019, she was dismissed from the Markup.<ref name="CJR">{{cite web |title=Here's what happened inside The Markup |url=https://www.cjr.org/analysis/the-markup.php |website=Columbia Journalism Review |access-date=26 April 2019 |language=en}}</ref> Five of the seven editorial staff immediately resigned in support of her, and over 145 journalists and researchers signed a letter of support.<ref name="CJR" /> In August, she was reinstated in her role as editor-in-chief and The Markup was reformed with the original editorial staff.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://themarkup.org/|title=The Markup|website=The Markup|language=en|access-date=2019-08-06}}</ref>

In the following months, Angwin was joined by a new leadership team including public radio veteran, Evelyn Larrubia as managing editor, and free speech lawyer, [[Nabiha Syed]], as president. The Markup began publishing on February 25, 2020 with a staff of 17 reporters, editors and engineers.<ref name="nytimes_Tracy_2020">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/24/business/the-markup-tech-launch.html |title=After Long Wait, The Markup Is Ready to ‘Show Our Work’ |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=February 24, 2020 |access-date=August 4, 2021 |first=Marc |last=Tracy}}</ref> Since its launch, the site has published numerous investigations examining issues like data privacy, disinformation, and algorithmic bias, and the role that the internet's most powerful platforms play in facilitating those harms. And it has developed and launched sophisticated custom forensic tools in service of investigating issues that would otherwise remain hidden, including Blacklight, a privacy inspector, and Citizen Browser, a project to inspect Facebook's algorithms.<ref name="Vox_Morrison_2020">{{cite news |url=https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/9/22/21445646/ad-tracking-online-privacy-cookies-facebook-google-blacklight-markup |title=It’s easier than ever to find out how your favorite websites are tracking you |newspaper=[[Vox (website)|Vox]] |date=September 22, 2020 |access-date=August 10, 2021 |first=Sara |last=Morrison}}</ref>

In 2022, Angwin was replaced by Sisi Wei as Editor-in-Chief. <ref name="nl_20220802_newmarkupeoc">{{Cite web |last=Tameez |first=Hanaaʼ |last=Tameez |title=“A bigger focus on the human impact of technology”: Sisi Wei is The Markup’s new editor-in-chief |url=https://www.niemanlab.org/2022/08/a-bigger-focus-on-the-human-impact-of-technology-sisi-wei-is-the-markups-new-editor-in-chief/ |access-date=March 26, 2023 |website=Nieman Lab |language=en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220802214652/https://www.niemanlab.org/2022/08/a-bigger-focus-on-the-human-impact-of-technology-sisi-wei-is-the-markups-new-editor-in-chief/ |archive-date=August 2, 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref>

In February 2023, Angwin left The Markup.<ref name="markup_20230204_departure">{{cite web |last=Angwin |first=Julia |date=February 4, 2023 |title=Journalistic Lessons for the Algorithmic Age |url=https://themarkup.org/hello-world/2023/02/04/journalistic-lessons-for-the-algorithmic-age |work=[[The Markup]] |access-date=March 27, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230204130338/https://themarkup.org/hello-world/2023/02/04/journalistic-lessons-for-the-algorithmic-age |archive-date=February 4, 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref>

==Books==
Angwin is the author of ''Stealing MySpace: The Battle to Control the Most Popular Website in America''<ref name="Angwin_Stealing_2009">{{cite book |pages=[https://archive.org/details/stealingmyspaceb00angw/page/384 384] |publisher=Random House |date=March 17, 2009 |isbn=978-1400066940 |first=Julia |last=Angwin |title=Stealing MySpace: The Battle to Control the Most Popular Website in America |url=https://archive.org/details/stealingmyspaceb00angw/page/384 }}</ref> and ''[[Dragnet Nation]]''.<ref name="Angwin_DragnetNation_2014"/> In his ''New York Times'' "Sunday Book Review" of ''Stealing MySpace'', Michael Agger described Angwin's "meticulously" detailed description of [[Rupert Murdoch]]'s purchase of [[MySpace]] in 2005 from [[Intermix Media]] despite competition from [[News Corp (2013–present)|News Corp]] and [[Viacom (2005–present)|Viacom]], as "so granular that it passes through boring into surreal."<ref name="NYT_Agger_2009">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/19/books/review/Agger-t.html |series=Sunday Book Review |title=Dude, Murdoch Friended Us! |first=Michael |last=Agger |date=April 16, 2009 |access-date=September 24, 2018 |work=The New York Times}}</ref> The ''Washington Post''{{'}}s Scott Rosenberg compared ''Stealing MySpace'' to Kara Swisher's ''There Must be a Pony in Here Somewhere: The AOL Time Warner debacle and the quest for the digital future''.<ref name="Swisher_2003">{{cite book |title=There Must be a Pony in Here Somewhere: The AOL Time Warner debacle and the quest for the digital future |pages=[https://archive.org/details/theremustbeponyi00swis/page/320 320] |access-date=September 24, 2018 |publisher=Crown Business |first=Kara |last=Swisher |date=October 2003 |isbn=1400049636 |url=https://archive.org/details/theremustbeponyi00swis/page/320 }}</ref><ref name="WaPo_Rosenberg_2009">{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/13/AR2009031301270.html |work=Washington Post |title=Book Review: 'Stealing MySpace: The Battle To Control the Most Popular Website in America' by Julia Angwin |first=Scott |last=Rosenberg |date=March 15, 2009 |access-date=September 24, 2018}}</ref> ''[[The Economist]]'',<ref name="economist_2014"/> ''[[Kirkus Reviews]]'',<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/julia-angwin/dragnet-nation/ |title=Dragnet Nation by Julia Angwin |work=[[Kirkus Reviews]] |date=February 25, 2014 |access-date=September 24, 2018}}</ref> and the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' gave ''[[Dragnet Nation]]'' favorable reviews.<ref>{{cite news |url= http://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-ca-jc-julia-angwin-20140309-story.html |title='Dragnet Nation' looks at the hidden systems that are always looking at you |first=Jacob |last=Silverman |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=March 6, 2014 |publisher=[[Tribune Co]] |location=[[Los Angeles, CA|Los Angeles]] |issn=0458-3035 |access-date=September 24, 2018}}</ref>

In a 2014 interview with [[Bill Moyers]] about ''Dragnet Nation'', Angwin described reporters as "prime targets for Internet snooping" and "the canary in the coal mine" of internet privacy - the first to feel the "impact of total surveillance". She said that as "watch dogs for democracy", journalists need to protect their sources.<ref name="Moyers_Dragnet_2014"/>  In a 2014 interview with [[Kirkus Reviews]]'s [[Neha Sharma]], Angwin said that she had become aware of [[data scraping]] while researching ''Stealing MySpace''. To protect her own digital content, she began using [[Tails (operating system)|Tails]].<ref name="kirkusreviews_2014">{{cite web |url= https://www.kirkusreviews.com/features/reclaiming-privacy-age-hyper-sharing/ |title=Reclaiming Privacy in An Age of Hyper-Sharing |first=Neha |last=Sharma |work=Kirkus Reviews |date=February 14, 2014 |access-date=September 24, 2018}}</ref>

==Awards==
{{main|Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting}}

In 2003 Angwin was one of ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]''{{'}}s staff reporters whose stories on the history and impact of corporate scandals in the United States, were acknowledged with a [[Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting]].

She shared the 2011 [[Gerald Loeb Award]] for Online Enterprise for the story "What They Know".<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.anderson.ucla.edu/media-relations/2011/loeb-award-winners |title=Loeb Award Winners |date=June 28, 2011 |website=[[UCLA Anderson School of Management]] |access-date=February 2, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190401042854/https://www.anderson.ucla.edu/media-relations/2011/loeb-award-winners |archive-date=April 1, 2019 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In 2017, Angwin was awarded a Scripps Howard award for Digital Innovation alongside four colleagues at ProPublica for their investigative series entitled Machine Bias, which examined how computer-generated algorithms used to predict criminality perpetuate racial biases <ref name="ProPublica Wins Two Scripps Howard Awards">{{cite web |url=https://www.propublica.org/atpropublica/propublica-wins-two-scripps-howard-awards |title=ProPublica Wins Two Scripps Howard Awards |author=Cynthia Gordy Giwa |date=March 7, 2017 |access-date=June 7, 2021}}</ref> Angwin graduated from the University of Chicago in 1992 with a B.A. in mathematics.<ref name="Julia Angwin Investigative Journalist">{{cite web |url=https://billmoyers.com/guest/julia-angwin/ |author=[[Bill Moyers]] |title=Bill Moyers |access-date=May 12, 2021}}</ref>

In 2018, Angwin and her team's work on her “Automating Hate” series at ProPublica won the Loeb Award for beat reporting. That series uncovered secret guidelines used by Facebook to inconsistently distinguish between hate speech and political expression.<ref name="ProPublica Wins Two Gerald Loeb Awards for Business Journalism">{{cite web |url=https://www.propublica.org/atpropublica/propublica-wins-two-gerald-loeb-awards-for-business-journalism |title=ProPublica Wins Two Gerald Loeb Awards for Business Journalism |date=June 26, 2018 |access-date=June 7, 2021}}</ref>

She shared the 2018 Gerald Loeb Award for Beat Reporting for the story "Automating Hate".<ref name="LOEB-2018">{{Cite web |url=https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ucla-anderson-school-of-management-announces-2018-gerald-loeb-award-winners-300672056.html |title=UCLA Anderson School of Management Announces 2018 Gerald Loeb Award Winners |date=June 25, 2018 |website=PR Newswire |access-date=January 31, 2019}}</ref>

== Family ==
Angwin lives in New York City with her husband and two children.<ref>{{cite web |title=Julia Angwin |publisher=MacMillan Publishers|url=https://us.macmillan.com/author/juliaangwin/&sa=D&source=editors&ust=1621984456798000&usg=AOvVaw2TjHRjrVVwxX-RYtE-p4gx|access-date=May 26, 2021}}</ref> Her daughter, started a cryptography business as a middle school student called Diceware Passwords, focused on selling secure handwritten passwords.<ref>{{cite web |title=Need a Good Password? Here's Help from a Sixth-Grader |publisher=Columbia Climate School |url=https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2015/12/28/need-a-good-password-heres-help-from-a-sixth-grader/ |date=December 28, 2015 |access-date=June 8, 2021}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

{{GeraldLoebAward Deadline and Beat Reporting}}
{{GeraldLoebAward News Service, Online, and Blogging}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Angwin, Julia}}
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:American columnists]]
[[Category:Columbia Business School alumni]]
[[Category:American investigative journalists]]
[[Category:21st-century American women writers]]
[[Category:American women columnists]]
[[Category:Gerald Loeb Award winners for Deadline and Beat Reporting]]
[[Category:Gerald Loeb Award winners for News Service, Online, and Blogging]]
[[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]]
[[Category:University of Chicago alumni]]
[[Category:People from Champaign, Illinois]]