New at Reason: Radley Balko on the Death of Crime Reporter Pete Shellem

November 2, 2009

Pete Shellem was a hard-drinking, chain-smoking, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania crime reporter. In an age when journalism has been inflicted not only by ballyhooed budget woes and challenges from new media, but also by a glut of dubious trend stories, horserace political coverage, and endless navel-gazing about the state of the profession, Shellem merely freed four wrongly convicted people from prison in a period of 10 years with his reporting. He also brought down a state attorney general and front runner for the governor's mansion.

Shellem died last week at age 49. Reason Senior Editor Radley Balko looks at his legacy.

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