Reporting the untold tales of executioners' songs
I spoke with Nieman Storyboard about my reporting and writing process, ethical considerations and lessons learned from covering the stories of execution workers in South Carolina.
WFAE 90.7 - Charlotte's NPR News Source
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19th November 2021
Critical questions remain about SC firing squad executions, journalist says
I was invited to Charlotte's WFAE NPR show to discuss my reporting on firing squads, execution secrecy and executioners in South Carolina. You can listen to the interview here.
The State
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18th November 2021
Here’s what South Carolina doesn’t want the public to know about firing squads and executions
Shortly before state lawmakers approved the firing squad in May, Corrections created confidentiality agreements that suppress information from execution workers. Since then, the agency has concealed documents and particulars that explain the state’s execution plans, regardless of method, my investigation for The State Media Co. shows. That violates state law, media attorneys agree. It could also be a human rights violation.
The State
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5th November 2021
They executed people for the state of South Carolina. For some, it nearly destroyed them.
The repercussions of execution work for staff have often been left out of conversations about the death penalty, until now. Over five months, I spoke with 10 people who helped administer previous executions. The closer they and their families were to the act of killing, the more the men said their jobs caused long-term harm.
The State
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5th November 2021
From hanging pirates to firing squads, pictures reveal 303-year history of SC executions
Back and forth on an autumn day in 1718, the bodies of at least 20 pirates swung from nooses in Charleston.
This article reviews South Carolina's 303-year history of executions, through images and never-before-published records.
The State
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21st August 2021
State reporter earns a top spot in national competition for science-related coverage
My investigative reporting for WIRED, Scientific American and The State earned second place in the 2021 Evert Clark/Seth Payne Award, a national competition for young science journalists.
“Eisner’s investigation on the industrial exploitation of horseshoe crabs is a model of dogged reporting,” the Council for the Association of Science Writers wrote in the announcement of my Honorable Mention. “She won accolades for challenging a powerful company that other journalists have had trouble penetrating.”
WIRED
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21st October 2020
Americans Took Prevagen for Years—as the FDA Questioned Its Safety
My investigation for WIRED now showed that for years, officials at the FDA questioned the basis for the claims made by the company that manufactures Prevagen, a popular supplement for brain health. Multiple FDA inspections, most of which had not been reported before, found significant issues with the manufacturing processes, complaint handling, and the quality control testing that was supposed to ensure the products were safe.
And thousands of Americans have reported experiencing “adverse events” while taking Prevagen, including seizures, strokes, heart arrhythmias, chest pain, and dizziness, my reporting exposed.
Wisconsin Public Radio
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17th December 2020
Listen: Prevagen Still On The Market In Spite Of Safety Issues
I was invited on to Wisconsin Public Radio's morning show to speak about my reporting on Prevagen, and explain why the supplement has been on the market for years in spite of serious safety concerns raised by the FDA. You can listen to the 30 minute story by following the link.
The Marshall Project
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2nd November 2020
Prison Is Even Worse When You Have a Disability Like Autism
My investigation for The Marshall Project found that state officials across the country often fail to identify incarcerated people with developmental disorders, a group that faces overwhelming challenges behind bars, from bright lights to noises to social dynamics.
The State
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11th February 2021
Vaccine testing is changing. Why is this $13B lab still bleeding SC horseshoe crabs?
Horseshoe crabs are at least 445 million years old and grow larger in South Carolina than almost anywhere else in America. Since their blue blood can expertly detect a potentially deadly bacterial toxin, for decades, they’ve been bled to help develop safe vaccines. But the process that can harm the animals is no longer needed, some scientists say.
And the company that still bleeds the animals in the state, Charles River Laboratories, has for years presented information to the public that experts say has been misleading and sometimes inaccurate, my investigation for The State Media Co. showed.
The State
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26th May 2021
Pharma lab seems to contradict itself, science in fight to bleed SC horseshoe crabs
A judge banned horseshoe crab harvesting on Cape Romain, then Charles River appealed. Here’s what the lab is arguing in court, sometimes seemingly at odds with science and experts.
The State
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26th August 2021
‘The refuge is closed’: Permits to be required for Cape Romain horseshoe crab harvest
For decades, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has allowed fishermen working for pharmaceutical companies to harvest horseshoe crabs from the beaches and salt marshes that make up South Carolina’s Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge without first conducting a review of how the harvest may be damaging wildlife, or requiring that fishermen apply for permits from the federal government.
A six-line announcement signed by a regional chief of the agency and quietly published on the refuge’s website
The State
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1st October 2020
Company accused of polluting ocean with plastic has an ally: SC ports
Never-before-seen documents reviewed by The State Media Co. — reported here for the first time — revealed leadership at the Ports Authority has been helping shield Frontier and its business supplier from scrutiny despite internally noting that the company was responsible for spills. And in emails exchanged in private, leaders of both organizations sometimes seemed to dismiss ecological concerns or public accountability, the documents show.
The State
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4th March 2021
Company accused of plastic pollution agrees to pay SC nonprofits $1M in settlement
Half a year after my reporting revealed for the first time that the SC Ports Authority and the CEO of a company accused of plastics pollution shared a friendly relationship, the company agreed to pay $1 million to the two Charleston-based environmental nonprofits that had been suing it.
Emails I published showed the Ports Authority president offered to shield the company's CEO from public scrutiny after a government agency found evidence of pollution at the site it rented from the port — despite acknowledging internally that Frontier’s facilities were prone to spillage and holding the company financially responsible for clean-up costs.
Scientific American
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21st December 2020
Large Methane Leaks Reveal Long-Standing Shortfalls in Oversight
For years, oil and gas companies have been required to detect and repair methane leaks in their equipment. But scientists have produced dozens of studies over the past decade that suggest the current methods and technology used by industry to detect leaks—and by regulators to estimate how much methane is emitted—are inadequate to catch the actual scale of the problem, as my story for Scientific American shows.
The Intercept
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21st December 2019
Inside the Plot to Murder Honduran Activist Berta Cáceres
Text and WhatsApp messages show that the conspiracy against Berta Caceres reached the highest ranks of the company whose dam she had been protesting. My co-reporter Danielle Mackey and I reported this story for over a year, analyzing thousands of messages and hundreds of documents to say what others had speculated but never proven.
NPR / Radio Ambulante
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2nd March 2021
Berta y el río
I worked with NPR's Radio Ambulante team to help report and produce this Spanish language audio story in 2021, after investigating the secret chats of the hitmen charged with murdering Berta Cáceres in 2019 for The Intercept.
Berta Cáceres was one of the most recognized environmental defenders in Central America, and had been fighting for more than 20 years for the rights of indigenous people before her death.
Apple Podcasts
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26th May 2021
Deconstructed: The System That Killed Berta Cáceres»
When Berta Cáceres was murdered in 2016, she was the leading environmental activist in Honduras and, arguably, the world. I joined my co-reporter Danielle Mackey to speak with the Intercept’s Maia Hibbett on this episode of Deconstructed to discuss our investigation for The Intercept into the secretive chats of the hitmen who killed her.
The State
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5th May 2021
Why are ‘Dreamers’ who call South Carolina home leaving? ‘It’s like a toxic relationship’
The occupational and educational limitations that DACA recipients face in South Carolina are some of the most restrictive in the nation. But the laws themselves are not the only problem.
An investigation by my co-reporter Lucas Larson and I showed DACA recipients reported falling victim to misinformation about the laws while studying at South Carolina’s educational institutions, and said racism was tolerated in the schools they attended. Taken together, the “toxic” climate they described made their situations more difficult than the laws required, they said, and has led to some of them choosing to leave the state.
Reporters spoke to seven of the thousands of S.C. students with DACA status. Though they grew up in different regions of the state, their stories of mistreatment and misinformation were similar.
Hilton Head Island Packet
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26th August 2021
The story of ‘La Isla’: How Hispanic students became the face of Hilton Head
The world knows Hilton Head Island as a resort paradise with pristine beaches and golf courses to match. Its gated communities play host to multi million-dollar homes and, overwhelmingly, white retirees.
It’s an image that hides history: the native island families who trace their lineage back long before white developers arrived and today’s new reality: a significant Hispanic and Latino community that is coming into its own.
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