American journalist
Miriam Ottenberg (October 7, 1914 in Washington, D.C. – November 10, 1982) was the first woman news reporter for "The Washington Star" who won a Pulitzer Prize in 1960, for a series of articles exposing the practices of unscrupulous used car dealers in Washington D.C.
Background.
Her father was Louis Ottenberg (1886–1960), a lawyer for 45 years in the District of Columbia, at whose suggestion the American Bar Association created the Magna Carta Memorial in Runnymede, England. Her mother was Nettie (Podell) Ottenberg, one of the first training social workers in the United States who won the first federal funding for day care.
Career.
Ottenberg's follow-up stories led to enactment of remedial law.
With several honors and awards given during her career, Ottenberg also was one of the first reporters to reveal that the "Mafia" was an organized crime network. She once summed up her feelings about her role as a journalist: "A reporter should expose the bad and campaign for the good. That's the way I was brought up."
Works.
Ottenberg published the following books: