Previously she was a visiting professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Greenspun School of Journalism and Media Studies and served four years as ombudsman for NPR. She is the author of Woodward & Bernstein: Life in the Shadow of Watergate (2006, Wiley), and co-author of Running Toward Danger: Stories Behind the Breaking News of 9/11 (2002). She has contributed to the American Journalism Review, The New York Times, Washingtonian Magazine, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, The Newark Star Ledger and The Washington Post. Her work was recognized three times with the National Press Club’s top media criticism prize. She was a staff reporter with The San Jose (CA) Mercury News from 1982 to 1987. Shepard is a judge for the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award and is on the board of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.