- Van Natta will continue his role in ESPN’s Investigative, Enterprise and Digital Journalism Unit
- Move reflects ESPN’s continued commitment to journalism
ESPN has signed Don Van Natta Jr., a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter, to a new multi-year contract. Van Natta will continue his work within ESPN’s Investigative, Enterprise and Digital Journalism Unit, where he has served as a senior writer since joining ESPN in 2012.
The signing reflects ESPN’s sustained investment in premium journalism and accountability reporting, on the heels of adding six former Washington Post reporters to its roster this year.
“Don brings experience, expertise and unmatched persistence to his work every day, and we’re thrilled that he will be contributing to our journalism for years to come,” said Chris Buckle, ESPN Vice President, Investigative, Enterprise and Digital Journalism.
In recent years, Van Natta, sometimes in collaboration with other ESPN journalists, has delivered a steady stream of significant investigative and enterprise reporting across professional sports, including:
- Developments within players unions for the NFL, MLB and WNBA, including a run of exclusive reporting last summer that led to the resignation of NFLPA leader Lloyd Howell.
- Ongoing reporting on former NFL coach Jon Gruden’s lawsuit over whether the league leaked the emails that led to his departure as Las Vegas Raiders head coach.
- Covering NFL owners voting on a succession plan for the Raiders’ ownership.
- The NFL and NFLPA’s dispute over the union’s annual team report cards.
- New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft’s efforts to earn election to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
- Bill Belichick not becoming a first-ballot Hall of Famer.
- MLB commissioner Rob Manfred’s historic decision to remove Pete Rose, “Shoeless” Joe Jackson and other deceased players from MLB’s permanently ineligible list.
- Multiple controversies surrounding former Washington Commanders owner Dan Snyder.
Prior to joining ESPN, Van Natta spent 16 years as an investigative correspondent for The New York Times, contributing to two Pulitzer Prize–winning teams (National Reporting, 1999; Explanatory Reporting, 2002). Based in New York, Washington, D.C., Miami, and London (2003–05), where he became the paper’s first investigative correspondent stationed overseas, he covered counter-terrorism and intelligence and broke hundreds of stories on topics including TWA Flight 800, President Bill Clinton’s impeachment, the 9/11 attacks, extraordinary rendition, campaign finance abuses, and the News of the World phone-hacking scandal.
Before joining the Times in 1995, Van Natta spent eight years at The Miami Herald, where he was part of the team awarded the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for its coverage of Hurricane Andrew.
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Media contact: andy.hall@espn.com
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