WASHINGTON, D.C. April 3, 2008 — The Center for Public Integrity is pleased to announce that David E. Kaplan has been named the new Director of its International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). Kaplan, who has been an ICIJ member for more than eight years, served until June 2007 as chief investigative correspondent at U.S. News & World Report, where he wrote the magazine's popular Bad Guys blog.

“Because of the importance of our international investigative work, I am extremely pleased to have David Kaplan as the new ICIJ director. His impressive and extensive background in international investigative journalism and broad experience with major global issues will lead ICIJ into its second decade of growth,” said Center Executive Director Bill Buzenberg. “He brings renewed vitality and leadership to our international team of first-rate investigative journalists.”

“This is a terrific opportunity to work with many of the world’s best journalists on some of the most important issues we face,” said Kaplan. “At a time when traditional investigative reporting is under siege, ICIJ represents the future of our craft — multinational, collaborative, hard-hitting investigative journalism in the public interest.”

With more than 30-years of investigative reporting experience, Kaplan has covered organized crime, terrorist groups, corporate polluters, corrupt law enforcement officials, neo-Nazis, the banking industry, and the intelligence community. He has reported from two dozen countries and is a former Fulbright scholar in Japan. Among his books are YAKUZA, translated into 10 languages and widely considered the standard reference on the Japanese mafia; and the critically acclaimed Fires of the Dragon, on the murder of journalist Henry Liu. Kaplan has also run investigative reporting workshops worldwide and currently teaches in the graduate journalism program at Georgetown University.

Prior to U.S. News, Kaplan served as one of two senior editors at the San Francisco-based Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR), where he oversaw production of investigative stories for Frontline, 60 Minutes, and other major media outlets. During his tenure, CIR won more than 35 major journalism, film and video awards and Kaplan’s own stories have won or shared more than 15 awards, including honors from Investigative Reporters and Editors, the American Bar Association, Overseas Press Club, and World Affairs Council.

About ICIJ

ICIJ was launched in 1997 to globally extend the Center for Public Integrity’s style of watchdog journalism in the public interest by marshaling the talents of the world’s leading investigative reporters. Following the successful path forged by the Center, ICIJ and its hand-picked cadre of more than 100 international investigative journalists, examine major global issues that affect us all and release its findings on the Center’s website, www.publicintegrity.org.