Alix M. Freedman

Alix Marian Freedman (born November 25, 1957, in New York City ) is an American journalist, and ethics editor at Thomson Reuters.

She is the recipient of several awards including the Pulitzer Prize and the Gerald Loeb Award.

Career Freedman gained her first experience in journalism writing articles for her school newspapers, first a few articles for The Exonian, at Phillips Exeter and then for The Harvard Crimson.

Coverage of the tobacco industry During her time at the New York bureau, Freedman reported extensively on the tobacco industry. In 1993 Freedman and a colleague were awarded the Front Page Award for specialized writing for "Smoke and Mirrors: How Cigarette Makers Keep Health Questions 'Open' Year After Year."

As the tobacco industry continued to face more scrutiny, Freedman reported on a libel lawsuit, seeking 10 billion dollars, filed by Phillip Morris against ABC television and its owner Capital Cities Inc. The suit was filed over the word spiked, used in the broadcast story, referring to nicotine being added back to tobacco during the production process. Her story, "Tar Wars: Philip Morris is Putting TV Journalism on Trial in its suit against ABC," reported on the lawsuit and how the tobacco company was spending a million dollars a month for 20 attorneys in their fight against ABC. Capital Cities, having earnings of just 6.4 billion in 1994, settled with Phillip Morris, printing a public apology and paying 15 million to cover the tobacco companies legal fees.

Freedman was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for her continued coverage of the tobacco industry. In one of those reports, "Phillip Morris Memo Likens Nicotine to Cocaine," she wrote about a 15-page confidential internal document that pointed to the tobacco companies knowledge of the addictive nature of their product. The report explained that nicotine "'travels to the brain about eight to 10 seconds after a smoker inhales," "altering the state of the smoker.'"

The series of stories leading up to her Pulitzer are listed below:

" FTC Will Overhaul Tar and Nicotine Ratings," The Wall Street Journal, October 18, 1995 "Phillip Morris Memo Likens Nicotine to Cocaine," The Wall Street Journal, December 8, 1995

In 1998 Freedman, and Suein Hwang, shared the Gerald Loeb Award (deadline and/beat writing), for coverage of the tobacco industry's liability settlement.

Coverage of quinacrine and chemical sterilization In 1998 Freedman wrote a series of stories on the chemical sterilization using quinacrine pellets, of more than one hundred thousand women, who lived in poor developing countries. Many of these sterilization procedures were unwanted, or done without their understanding and consent. She did extensive interviews with Stephen D Mumford, president of the Center for Research on Population, before traveling to Vietnam, where she was detained, and nearly arrested. She left after having her notes confiscated.

Although she didn't plan on it, "Population Bomb," had a global impact. The company that manufactured quinacrine, Siparm Sesseln AG, of Switzerland, discontinued production of the drug, and sterilization procedures, using the drug, were banned in Chile and India.

The series of reports were published in June and August, 1998. The stories are listed below.

"Population Bomb," The Wall Street Journal, Alix M. Freedman, June 18, 1998 "India Bans Quinacrine Sterilization of Women," The Wall Street Journal, Alix M. Freedman and Jonathan Karp, August 1998 " FDA Tells Two Researchers to Stop Distribution of Drug for Sterilization, " The Wall Street Journal, Alix M. Freedman, October, 1998

In a 1999 article, published by the American Journalism Review, Freedman said she told Mumford that she would "give a fair and honest assessment of the method" that he was such a strong advocate of, and she did. Freedman leaves the reader to decide what they think when reading her reports saying "I don't believe you should be a hostage to your own views." 1993 Front Page Award for specialized writing, presented by the Newswomen's Club of New York, (with Laurie Cohen), The Wall Street Journal, for "Smoke and Mirrors: How Cigarette Makers Keep Health Question 'Open' Year After Year." 1998 Gerald Loeb Award for Deadline and/or Beat Writing, (with Suein L. Hwang),The Wall Street Journal, for coverage of the tobacco industry 1999 George Polk Award for International Reporting, Wall Street Journal, for stories on the sterilization of women in the third world, often without their consent 2004 Matrix Award, Association for Women in Communications 2010 Gerald Loeb Minard Editor Award