September 1, 2011
Teaching investigative journalism is a core mission of the school. Some of the best investigative journalists in the country teach at the school and many other professors use investigative techniques in courses not explicitly labeled with the “I” word.Last winter, while still a student at the Stabile Center, Karla Zabludovsky traveled to Torreon, northern Mexico, to revisit the victims of the massive lead poisoning caused by the country’s biggest copper smelter.This week, The Economist published Zabludovsky’s findings, starting off with the “cerro negro,” the black mountain of lead that towers over the town of Torreon:"Dusty brown mountains surround Torreón, a big industrial city in the north of Mexico. But one sandy desert hillside shines jet-black. The cerro negro (“black hill”), as it is known locally, is composed of deposits from Latin America’s largest non-ferrous metal smelter, which has blackened the air for more than a century. The plant has created not just an ugly slag heap but a public-health problem whose true extent is still unknown."In 2009, Stabile students exposed how Google was making millions in ad dollars from online pharmacies that advertise through the company’s AdWords program.On August 19, Google did an about face. It signed a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice, agreeing to pay the government $50 million representing the proceeds of controlled prescription drugs sales of Canadian online pharmacies that advertise through Google.
