Rajkumar, Ohm to lead global investigations

I can’t think of two more accomplished journalists to lead the team. Both care deeply about the work and have helped to produce some of the AP’s most ambitious journalism in recent years.

Mary Rajkumar has led two Pulitzer Gold Medal-winning international investigations for The Associated Press. Most recently, she led and edited Erasing Mariupol, a collaboration across the AP which won the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service and is credited with saving thousands of Ukrainian civilian lives. She also led and edited Seafood From Slaves, which won the 2016 Pulitzer Gold Medal and resulted in the rescue of more than 2,000 people trapped in modern-day slavery. Three other projects she edited were named as Pulitzer finalists: on China for investigative reporting in 2021; on Al-Qaida for international in 2014, and on child trafficking in Africa in 2009. Stories she edited have also won two George Polk Awards and 10 Overseas Press Club awards, including six for best overall international work. Rajkumar has worked at the AP since 2007, launching and editing enterprise and investigations worldwide. Before that, she served as deputy business editor for the Miami Herald, as assistant editor and deputy bureau chief at the San Jose Mercury News, and as a reporter at the Oakland Tribune. She graduated with honors from the University of Cambridge, U.K., and Stanford University, and is a native of Singapore.

Jeannie Ohm joined the AP in 2013, and since 2020 she has guided visual storytelling and analysis for the global investigations team. She has been committed to finding new ways to increase the visibility of AP’s investigative journalism, including through visual investigations, podcasts and feature-length documentaries.
Jeannie led AP’s collaboration with PBS Frontline and SITU Research on the award-winning documentary, "Crime Scene: Bucha," which was also nominated for a Peabody and Emmy award in two categories. She also oversaw the visual narrative reconstructing what happened to the Mariupol theater which was part of AP’s 2023 Pulitzer.  In addition to long-term projects, she has also demonstrated the ability to be nimble and creative during breaking news and major events, such as the visual investigation of the Burkina Faso military killing of teenage boys and Hamas training videos before the Oct. 7 attack.
During the pandemic, Jeannie was part of a team recognized with a Gramling Award for helping staffers quickly transition to publishing video remotely. She previously worked as a video supervisor ensuring timeliness and accuracy in AP’s daily video offerings to members.
Prior to joining AP, Jeannie was an on-air correspondent for MSNBC and NBC News and covered the White House and Pentagon. She won a News and Documentary Emmy with NBC News in 2009. She’s a graduate of Middlebury College.