John Archibald

John Archibald (born April 1963 ) is an American newspaper reporter and columnist for Al.com (Alabama Media Group). He won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary and was the lead reporter on an investigative series that shared the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting. In 2021 he co-hosted a podcast that won an Edward R. Murrow Award.

Early life and education Archibald was born in Alabaster, Alabama. His father was a Methodist minister and the family moved several times as he was assigned to different churches, finishing his career in Decatur. Archibald attended Banks High School in Birmingham, graduating in 1981, and in 1986 earned a degree in journalism from the University of Alabama.

Career He joined The Birmingham News, a forerunner of the news website AL.com, in 1986. "for lyrical and courageous commentary that is rooted in Alabama but has a national resonance"; among topics of his writing in the previous year were Roy Moore's candidacy in the 2017 special election for the United States Senate, In 2023, he was a writer in residence at Boston University.

From January 2022 he was lead reporter in an investigation by AL.com of abusive policing in the small town of Brookside, which was the co-winner of the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting; the series was described there as having "prompted the resignation of the police chief, four new laws and a state audit".

In September 2024, he was elected to the Pulitzer Prize Board.

Personal life Archibald and his wife Alecia have three children. His son Ramsey Archibald is also a reporter for AL.com, and the two have collaborated,

Publications Archibald's book Shaking the Gates of Hell was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 2021. It examines the failure of the Methodist Church and of his own father to support the 1960s Civil Rights struggle in the South.