| Rick Bragg | |
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 Rick Bragg at the 2008 Texas Book Festival |
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| Born | July 26, 1959 Piedmont, Alabama, United States |
| Occupation | Author Journalist |
Rick Bragg (born July 26, 1959) is an American journalist who won the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing in 1996 for his work at The New York Times.
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Bragg was born in the small city of Piedmont in northeastern Alabama and grew up in the small community of Possum Trot near Jacksonville. He credited his ability to write to listening to his family tell stories.
Bragg worked at several newspapers before joining the New York Times in 1994. He covered murders and unrest in Haiti as a metro reporter, then wrote about the Oklahoma City bombing, the Jonesboro killings, the Susan Smith trial and more as a national correspondent based in Atlanta. He later became the paper's Miami bureau chief just in time for Elián González's arrival and the international controversy surrounding the Cuban boy. Bragg won the Pulitzer for his work.
Bragg has authored four books: All Over but the Shoutin, Ava's Man, The Prince of Frogtown and I Am a Soldier Too: The Jessica Lynch Story, the authorized biography of American POW Jessica Lynch in 2003.
On May 29, 2003, after being given a two-week suspension for writing a story that primarily used the research of a stringer, [1] Bragg resigned in protest from the Times[2]. The story which sparked the controversy was a story Bragg wrote about Florida Gulf Coast oystermen. He wrote a narrative first person story of how he experienced oystermen culture. Bragg spent a day in Apalachicola and used the research and interviews of a stringer who was working with Bragg for the summer. Bragg's defense—that it is common for Times correspondents to slip in and out of cities to "get the dateline" while relying on the work of stringers, researchers, interns and clerks—sparked "more passionate disagreement than the clear-cut fraud and plagiarism committed by fellow reporter Jayson Blair."[3]
He has taught writing in colleges and in newspaper newsrooms and now works as a writing professor at the University of Alabama's journalism program in its College of Communications and Information Sciences.
His latest book, The Prince of Frogtown, explores his father's life in Bragg's hometown of Jacksonville, Alabama.
Besides winning a Pulitzer Prize, he has received more than 50 writing awards in 20 years, including the prestigious American Society of Newspaper Editors Distinguished Writing Award twice. In 1992, he was awarded a Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University.
United States journalism scandals
   | Rick Bragg Bookbrowse Author Biography - Rick Bragg author profile and biography, plus links to book reviews and excerpts. |
| | Article in slate.com - Rick Bragg's "dateline toe-touch." - By Jack Shafer - Slate Magazine |
| | Rick Bragg at University of Alabama - University of Alabama Journalism through College of Communication |
| | Rick Bragg Quits At New York Times - Error - washingtonpost.com |
| | Times accepts Pulitzer-winning reporter's resignation - CNN.com - Times accepts Pulitzer-winning reporter's resignation - May. 29, 2003 |
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