After graduating from Georgetown, Twohey wrote for
Washington Monthly and the
National Journal before spending a year in Moscow as a reporter for
The Moscow Times. In 2002, she became a general assignment reporter for the
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, then began writing investigations at the
Chicago Tribune.
Untested rape kits In 2009, Twohey reported in the
Chicago Tribune that several suburban police departments around Chicago were not submitting all rape kits for testing. In the following year,
Illinois became the first U.S. state to require every rape kit be tested, and many other states in the U.S. followed soon after.
Predatory doctors From 2010 to 2011, Twohey published a series of articles in the
Chicago Tribune detailing cases of doctors who had been convicted of violent felonies or sex crimes and were still practicing and abusing patients. Her reporting has been credited for leading to new legislation and policies in
Illinois aimed at protecting patients, for example requiring background checks for healthcare providers.
Abandoned children In 2013, Twohey published an investigative report in
Reuters News that detailed how some people in the United States were using the internet to find places to abandon their adopted children. Several segments of this story were broadcast on the
Nightly News and the
Today Show on
NBC. Twohey was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for this work.
Donald Trump In 2016, Twohey and
Michael Barbaro published several investigative pieces to
The New York Times about sexual misconduct by then-presidential candidate
Donald Trump. Trump threatened to sue
The New York Times if they did not take down the articles.
Weinstein sexual abuse |thumb|right On October 5, 2017, Twohey and
Jodi Kantor co-wrote a
New York Times exposé on
sexual misconduct by Harvey Weinstein. Twohey said they were encouraged to investigate untold stories, and that
Dean Baquet,
executive editor, and Rebecca Corbett, head of investigative projects, had supported them even though Weinstein had threatened to sue
The New York Times. Twohey and Kantor had two in-person meetings with Weinstein. Twohey, Kantor, and Corbett also had multiple conversations with Weinstein's lawyers and publicists. A follow-up piece with fellow reporter
Ellen Gabler added more allegations and expanded the Weinstein timeline. Twohey said it was an emotional experience when she began seeing friends and family using the
#MeToo on her social media feed in the aftermath of the Weinstein allegations.
Jezebel announced in 2018 Twohey and Kantor were publishing an international book, set to be published in Spring 2019, based on their investigation that would reveal more about what happened. They received a
Sidney Award for their exposé. They were also given L.A. Press Club's Inaugural Impact Award and the McGill Medal for Journalistic Courage from the
Grady College of Journalism.
The New York Times won the
2018 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for Twohey's and Jodi Kantor's reporting, sharing the award with
Ronan Farrow at
The New Yorker, as well as the 2018
Gerald Loeb Award for Investigative business journalism.
She Said Twohey and Kantor authored a book which chronicled their exposé into Weinstein and the structures of power that enabled him, titled
She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story that Helped Ignite a Movement, which was published by Penguin Books in September 2019. In 2022, the book was adapted into a
film of the same name. The film is directed by
Maria Schrader from a screenplay by
Rebecca Lenkiewicz. Twohey is played by
Carey Mulligan.
Suicide forum investigation In December 2021, Twohey and Gabriel Dance published an investigative report in
The New York Times about
an American web forum dedicated to discussing and encouraging suicide. The report identified the founders of the suicide forum as Lamarcus Small and Diego Joaquín Galante and confirmed the deaths of 45 participants of the forum. As part of the report, Twohey and Dance consulted established reporters and suicide and medical experts, to find ways to limit the potential for
suicide contagion. Twohey's report was later cited in a letter from members of the
U.S. House of Representatives to
Attorney General Merrick Garland asking the attorney general what action could be taken against the site. Dr. AJ Eckert (director of the gender-affirming care program for Anchor Health in Connecticut and a teacher at
Quinnipiac University's
School of Medicine) called the
Times piece "another hit piece against trans people". Eckert also wrote an article published by
Science-Based Medicine, in which he said "the reporting ignored evidence and important context to weave a narrative portraying puberty blockers as far more risky than they actually are". In an
op-ed published by
Teen Vogue, the
chief medical officer of the
Los Angeles LGBT Center said the
New York Times authors "[failed] to meaningfully investigate the most compelling reason why medical providers consider puberty blockers in trans and gender diverse youth: These medications save lives." A statement issued by the executive committee of the
World Professional Association for Transgender Health and the board of its U.S. affiliate said the reporting "furthers the atmosphere of misinformation and subjectivity that has grown to surround the area of gender affirming medical interventions for transgender youth", and accused the authors of "[coming] up short in their interpretation and application of available data". On social media, lawyer and transgender rights activist
Chase Strangio of the
ACLU pointed to the piece as an example of how "rhetoric found in major news outlets fuels anti-trans violence", according to the
geek culture website
The Mary Sue. A writer for
Slate magazine said the
New York Times piece "does not seem to trust [the] medical consensus view".
Fox News said the report "sparked jeers from critics on social media mocking their newfound nuanced coverage of puberty blockers" and was "also blasted by progressives". == Personal life ==