Peter Zuckerman

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name =Peter Zuckerman


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occupation =Reporter

Peter Zuckerman (born 1980) is an American prize-winning reporter who has focused his career in court reporting and investigative journalism. He currently works for "The Oregonian" in Portland, Oregon.

Zuckerman was the lead writer of an award-winning and controversial, multi-part story, "Scouts' Honor", in the Idaho Falls "Post Register" about a multi-state child molestation case involving at least two dozen minors and the Boy Scouts of America in Idaho.citation |url=http://www.postregister.com/scouts_honor |title=Scout's Honor |year=2005 |accessdate=2007-10-03 |periodical=The Post Register] For work on the series, Zuckerman received the 2006 Livingston Award and the Post-Register won the Scripps Foundation's 2005 National Journalism Awards for distinguished service to the First Amendment. After the story was published Zuckerman became the target of personal attacks on the basis of his sexual orientation.citation |url=http://www.afterelton.com/dennis/blog/PBS-airs-doc-on-gay-reporter |title=PBS airs documentary on gay Idaho Falls reporter |first=Dennis |last=Ayers |date=2007-09-14 |accessdate=2007-10-03 |periodical=AfterElton.com] He also was criticized and accused of having a bias against the Boy Scouts of America and the Mormon Church. citation |title=Scouts Honor was a Disservice|year=2005 |date=May 24, 2005 |periodical=The Post Register] citation |title=Accused Bias|year=2005 |date=May 9, 2005 |periodical=The Post Register]

Zuckerman was profiled in a September 25 2007 documentary, "In A Small Town," broadcast in the PBS series, "Exposé: America's Investigative Reports." The documentary was nominated for an Emmy. citation |title=In a Small Town (part 1) |url=http://www.pbs.org/wnet/expose/episode215/index.html |publisher=PBS |accessdate=2007-10-03] Zuckerman was profiled as well as in Harvard University's Nieman Foundation for Journalism report about courage in journalism.

After moving to Oregon, Zuckerman continued to report on the Boy Scouts of America and the intertwined connections to the Mormon church in his investigative reporting in 2007 while working for "The Oregonian". [ [http://www.oregonlive.com/oregonian/stories/index.ssf?/base/news/1191470111100450.xml&coll=7 Men sue Scouts, Mormon church - OregonLive.com ] ] As part of his work Zuckerman obtained internal Boy Scout documents showing that as of December 31 2004, two-thirds of the traditional troops in the organization's western region were chartered by the Mormon church and nationwide roughly a third are part of the Mormon church. In this article, "Men Sue Scouts, Mormon Church", six men allege a former troop leader and church teacher abused them and seek $25 million in compensation as the Mormon church failed to thoroughly investigate, report the abuse to law enforcement, provide mental health services to victims or remove the abuser from contact with children once it learned about the abuse.cite web
last =Zuckerman
first =Peter
authorlink =Peter Zuckerman
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title=Men Sue Scouts, Mormon Church: $25 million - The six allege a former troop leader and church teacher abused them
publisher=The Oregonian
date=October 04, 2007
url =http://www.oregonlive.com/oregonian/stories/index.ssf?/base/news/1191470111100450.xml&coll=7&thispage=2
accessdate=2007-10-04]

Zuckerman has received several journalism awards, including the Livingston Awardcite web |url=http://www.livawards.org/past/ |title=The Livingston Awards: Past Winners |accessdate=2007-10-03] and the C.B. Blethen Memorial Award. [ [http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003386137_blethens10m.html The Seattle Times: Local News: Times, P-I take top honors in C.B. Blethen Awards ] ]

Zuckerman is visiting faculty at the Poynter Institutecite web |url=http://www.poynteronline.org/profile/profile.asp?user=115111 |title=Peter E Zuckerman |accessdate=2007-10-03] and has taught at other places as well, including the University of Georgia [ [http://www.uga.edu/news/artman/publish/071106_McGill_Fellows.shtml University of Georgia: News & Information ] ] and the University of Southern California. [http://college.usc.edu/unruh/past_events/ and college.usc.edu/unruh/private/UnruhNews.pdf]

Zuckerman is openly gay; his partner is Sam Adams, the mayor-elect of Portland. [ [http://www.pointssouth.net/2003ps/staging/000249.htm Navigating Between Silence and Speech : Points South ] ] cite news | url=http://wweek.com/editorial/3428/11010/ | title = Gossip should have no friends | date = 2008-05-21 | work = Willamette Week ]

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