{"id":10421,"date":"2016-02-12T06:00:03","date_gmt":"2016-02-12T12:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.robertfeder.com\/?p=10421"},"modified":"2016-02-12T06:00:03","modified_gmt":"2016-02-12T12:00:03","slug":"investigative-reporter-sarah-karp-joins-wbez","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/2016\/02\/12\/investigative-reporter-sarah-karp-joins-wbez\/","title":{"rendered":"'Remarkable' investigative reporter Sarah Karp joins WBEZ"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Sarah<\/a>

<\/a> Sarah Karp<\/p><\/div>\n

Sarah Karp, the renowned journalist whose investigative work led to the federal indictment of Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett, has been hired as a reporter at Chicago Public Media WBEZ FM 91.5.<\/a><\/p>\n

Karp, who most recently has been senior investigator at the Better Government Association, <\/a>will join the education reporting team at WBEZ February 29.<\/p>\n

Calling her \"a remarkable journalist and one of the most forceful investigative reporters in Chicago,\" Ben Calhoun, vice president of content and programming at Chicago Public Media, said in announcing Karp's hiring: \u201cIt goes without saying that the trajectory of her work aligns with the grain of our mission.\u201d<\/p>\n

Karp fills one of several vacancies in the WBEZ newsroom since Rob Wilderboer was promoted to senior editor of news, and Lynette Kalsnes resigned to move to Minneapolis, where she is communications coordinator for American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees of Minnesota.<\/p>\n

As a reporter for Catalyst Chicago,<\/a> Karp uncovered a $23 million bribery scheme involving Byrd-Bennett and a principal training academy. Last October Byrd-Bennett was indicted on federal corruption charges and pleaded guilty<\/a> to accepting bribes and kickbacks to steer no-bid contracts to her former associates.<\/p>\n

A Chicago native and graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism, Karp previously worked for the Chicago Reporter and the Daily Southtown.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo excited that I am going to get to work with so many great people... it is going to be FUN\u2026\u201d Karp\u00a0tweeted<\/a> Thursday. \u201cActually a big draw of going to WBEZ was wanting to go to meetings, hearings and to dive into the daily stuff\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Among her accolades, Karp was named winner of a 2016 Studs Terkel Community Media Award.<\/a> Presented by Public Narrative, the awards cite excellence in covering Chicago\u2019s diverse communities. She and this year's four other recipients<\/a> will be honored April 7.<\/p>\n

Here is the text of Calhoun\u2019s memo to WBEZ staff:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hi Everyone,<\/em>
\n\u00a0<\/em>
\nI\u2019m really excited to share another round of great news about our reporting staff.<\/em>
\n\u00a0<\/em>
\nIn a few weeks, Sarah Karp will be joining WBEZ.<\/em>
\n\u00a0<\/em>
\nSarah \u2013 who\u2019s known to a lot of folks in the building \u2013 is a remarkable journalist, and one of the most forceful investigative reporters in Chicago.<\/em>
\n\u00a0<\/em>
\nHer work started a cascade of events that ended with the federal indictment of Barbara Byrd-Bennett. She was Becky Vevea\u2019s partner in crime on last year\u2019s graduation rate reporting \u2013 reporting that lead CPS to admit its rates were inflated, and adjust them.<\/em>
\n\u00a0<\/em>
\nSarah\u2019s work prior to now \u2013 at the Daily Southtown, the Chicago Reporter, Catalyst, and the Better Government Association \u2013 is a long arc of awards, substance and impact.<\/em>
\n\u00a0<\/em>
\nSarah, and those who work with her, know that she is thoughtful, determined, and exceptionally talented. It goes without saying that the trajectory of her work aligns with the grain of our mission.<\/em>
\n\u00a0<\/em>
\nFor all of these reasons, we could not be more excited about her joining WBEZ, or about the work that she will do here as a journalist. Just personally, I\u2019m thrilled for us.<\/em>
\n\u00a0<\/em>
\nSarah\u2019s first day will be Monday February 29th.<\/em>
\n\u00a0<\/em>
\nBen<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sarah Karp, the renowned journalist whose investigative work led to the federal indictment of Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett, has been hired as a reporter at Chicago Public Media WBEZ FM 91.5. Karp, who most recently has been senior investigator at the Better Government Association, will join the education reporting team at WBEZ February... Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10421"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10421"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10421\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10429,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10421\/revisions\/10429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}