Peter Haden

Background

About Peter Haden

I use words, sounds and images to capture the public’s attention and help people understand – intellectually and emotionally – what goes on. To take them somewhere they might not go and put them in someone else’s shoes. To entertain and make them feel. This pursuit has spanned five continents, more than a dozen years and a few modes of transportation. I’ve ridden atop freight trains with migrants crossing Mexico and horses with Chilean cowboys crossing the Andes. On airboats boats with alligator hunters and in ambulances with overdose victims. In Figure-8 cars right side up and an Indian rickshaw upside down. I’ve covered stories for NPR, BBC, Marketplace, CNN en Español, USA Today, The Arizona Republic and others, and reported on staff for WLRN, Reveal, The Houston Chronicle, WJCT and ECTV Ukraine (Dnipro). More than 50 media outlets have featured my work. If I’m lucky, that work makes a difference. In South Florida, I won an Edward R. Murrow Award for a series of deep dive radio features exposing corruption in the drug treatment industry. That reporting helped spur state legislation to cut down on fraud and abuse. My Reveal documentary on pretrial detention policies at the Harris County Jail helped prompt bail reform in Houston. In North Florida, I won another Murrow Award for a series spotlighting the environmental degradation of St. Johns River. That project sparked a televised town hall and policy changes. Other honors: four-time winner of the Public Media Journalists Association Award; four AP Broadcasters Awards; two NABJ Salute to Excellence Awards; two SPJ Mark of Excellence Awards; six honors from SPJ Florida, the BEA Best in Show Award for Radio News, an NHJA Ñ recognition and the Greg Crowder Photojournalism Award. I was a Ford Global Scholars Fellow and the Ethics & Excellence in Journalism Fellow at the Carnegie-Knight News21 Project. Before that, I spent years as a bar manager, a gin slinger, a forklift driver, a teacher and a hog house framer. I grew up on a farm wrangling sheep and pitching manure and never met a goat I didn’t like. I’m blessed to now tell the stories of other people in the struggle. Let's connect: peter[at]hadenmedia[dot]com