Brett Murphy

Brett Murphy is an American journalist, best known as a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2018 for his investigative reporting series on the exploitation of truckers in California. He was also a child actor in the early 2000s.

His awards for “Rigged” include The Hillman Prize for newspaper, National Headliner Award for Investigative Reporting, The Gerald Loeb Award, The Sidney Award for July, the best of Gannett for Public Service, and the Al McDowell Award. He was a finalist for both the Pulitzer Prize in National Reporting and the ASNE Awards for Justice in Journalism.

Previous awards include finalist for the IRE Awards in Investigation Innovation in 2016.

Before joining USA Today as an investigative reporter, Murphy worked for the Naples Daily News, CBS Interactive, and Pitt Med Magazine. His bylines include The Guardian, Univision, San Jose Mercury News, CNET, NPR, and PBS affiliate KQED.

Brett Murphy currently works at USA Today as an investigative reporter. His series “Rigged: Forced in Debt. Worked Past Exhaustion,” reporting on labor exploitation in the California trucking industry won him critical acclaim in 2018 [1]. California passed legislation Senate Bill No. 1402 to increasingly hold labor violations accountable after its publication. Murphy co-founded the weekly newsletter Local Matters with fellow journalists Joseph Cranney and Alexandra Glorioso in 2016 [2]. Local Matters is a weekly newsletter that curates local investigative news from over 100 different newspapers as well as bringing more attention to local news that does not get the same attention as national news.

Murphy was born Oct. 4, 1991 in Worcester, Massachusetts. His early life included a child acting career spanning theater, commercials, films, and television shows.

Murphy first performed in local youth theater productions of You're a Good Man Charlie Brown as Linus, The Wizard of Oz, The Emperor's New Clothes and Fiddler on the Roof. Brett has also appeared in a number of commercials for Disney World, Ocean Spray, General Mills, Campbell's, The New York Post, Papa Gino's, host of the 2004 Nomar Garciaparra "Nomar Bowl" and a PSA for Project Liberty in New York City directed by Bob Balaban.

Murphy had a role in the feature film Fever Pitch as Ryan.

On ABC's sit-com Hope and Faith, Murphy played the recurring role of Edwin. Other television work has included The Denis Leary Merry Christmas on Comedy Central, a spoof commercial role on Saturday Night Live and a guest starring role on the 2006 Fox drama pilot Damages.

Murphy studied non-fiction writing at the University of Pittsburgh and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts on Dec. 14, 2013, summa cum laude. He attended the University of California Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism and graduated with a Master in Journalism in May, 2016.