Investigative Reporting: Breaking the Marines United Story

Date/Time
Date(s) - 09/26/2017
1:00 pm - 2:00 pm

Thomas Brennan, a Marine Corps sergeant who retired in 2012 and became an investigative journalist, will discuss how he broke the nude photo sharing scandal in the military earlier this year, forcing Pentagon and Congressional investigations and changimg the law governing sexual exploitation in the Department of Defense. Brennan, who now lives in Jacksonville, N.C., will explain how he reported and sourced the Marines United story, and how he responded to criticism.

Brennan holds a master’s degree in investigative journalism from Columbia University and is the founder of The War Horse, a nonprofit newsroom that covers the U.S. Department of Defense and Veterans Affairs. His work has been published in The New York Times, Vanity Fair, and the Center for Investigative Reporting, among others publications. He and combat journalist Finbarr O’Reilly co-authored the memoir “Shooting Ghosts,” which the Kirkus book review website called “a courageous breaking of the code of silence to seek mental health for veterans and the war-scarred.” For more information about Brennan and his work, visit Shooting Ghosts.

This event was organized by The Daily Tar Heel and is sponsored by Reese News Lab.