Linda Deutsch

Linda Deutsch (September 24, 1943 – September 1, 2024) was an American journalist who worked for the Associated Press (AP) and covered court cases from 1967 until her retirement in 2014, including the high-profile trials of Charles Manson, Sirhan Sirhan, O. J. Simpson, and Michael Jackson.

Early life and education Deutsch was born on September 24, 1943, in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, and was raised in the Jersey Shore community of Bradley Beach. She became interested in journalism at age 12, when she founded a newsletter for an Elvis Presley fan club.

Career While in college, Deutsch interned for a summer at the Perth Amboy Evening News. After graduating, she moved to Southern California and joined The San Bernardino Sun for a short time. she was the only woman in the Los Angeles bureau. Speaking on her experience as a woman in journalism, she said in 2015: "I personally was never harassed ... I was very fortunate in that aspect, but I think it was because [her colleagues] saw that I could do the job. You don't harass somebody that's making you look good. And so the only discrimination, really, was in pay and in assignments." Angela Davis (1971–1972), activist Daniel Ellsberg (1973), the Exxon Valdez oil spill (1989), acquitted double murderer O. J. Simpson (1995), murderer Phil Spector (2009), singer Michael Jackson, actor Robert Blake, serial killer Richard Ramirez, and parricidal brothers Lyle and Erik Menendez. She became a Pulitzer Prize finalist for her role as a pool reporter The trial also marked her first time acting as a television journalist; her reporting was widely broadcast due to the Associated Press's neutral reputation.

Deutsch retired in 2014. That year, she also endowed journalism scholarships at her alma mater Monmouth University for $1 million.

Honors and awards University of Missouri's Honor Medal for Distinguished Service in Journalism, 1992 Monmouth University Distinguished Alumni Award, 1996 Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Women's Media Foundation, 2015