[3][4] Often relying on public records more than insider accounts, Dedman has reported and written influential investigative articles on racial profiling by police,[5] illegal steering of customers to different neighborhoods by real estate agents based on the race of the customers,[6] police officers who tried to stop abusive interrogations of detainees at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp,[7] and efforts to understand and prevent school shootings.
[8][9][10] In 1989, Dedman received the Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting for The Color of Money,[1] his series of articles in 1988 in editor Bill Kovach's The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on racial discrimination by banks and other mortgage lenders in middle-income black neighborhoods.
In a consent decree, the bank agreed to pay $1 million to compensate 48 victims of discrimination and to take a series of corrective measures to ensure compliance with federal fair lending laws.
[14][15] Banking regulators increased pressure on lenders to comply with the guidelines of the Community Reinvestment Act, which encourages deposit-holding financial institutions to make loans throughout their service areas.
[16] Along with responses from lawmakers and regulators, Atlanta's largest banks agreed to lend $65 million at low rates to moderate-income borrowers, particularly on the city's black Southside.
He has covered news and sports part-time for The New York Times, including the home run record chase between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa in 1998 and 1999.
[18] From 2006 to 2014, Dedman was an investigative reporter for NBC News and NBCNews.com, formerly known as msnbc.com, uncovering stories including firefighter deaths from faulty equipment,[19] fraud in Pentagon efforts to identify war dead,[20] widespread failures to inspect highway bridges,[21][22] efforts by U.S. officials to hide the risk of earthquake damage to nuclear power plants,[23] hidden visitor logs at the Obama White House,[24] suppression of Hillary Rodham Clinton's college thesis at the request of the Clinton White House,[25][26] and journalists making campaign contributions.
Empty Mansions also appeared on bestseller lists from Publishers Weekly, IndieBound independent booksellers, National Public Radio, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today and Maclean's magazine in Canada.
[43] The film rights to Empty Mansions were optioned by Fremantle, which is developing a TV series with HBO, director Joe Wright, and screenwriter Ido Fluk.