Brian Ross (journalist)

For over four decades, Brian Ross operated in the shadows where crime, corruption, and power intersect. With a reporter's notebook and a camera crew, he pursued stories others found too dangerous or complex, building a reputation as television news's premier investigator. His career spanned the heyday of network news dominance, with landmark reports for NBC and later ABC that often led to congressional hearings, indictments, and resignations. Ross specialized in forensic journalism, piecing together financial trails, cultivating confidential sources, and confronting subjects with damning evidence. His work took him from the cocaine corridors of the Medellín Cartel to the boardrooms of Enron, and into the secretive world of Washington lobbying. While his aggressive style sometimes courted controversy and led to high-profile errors, his commitment to the craft of investigation was undeniable. He represented a breed of journalist whose primary allegiance was to the story, a constant irritant to the powerful and a champion of the old-school scoop.