Melissa Brown

Reporter
Nashville, Tennessee
I am an Tennessee-based reporter with experience covering state politics, the death penalty and public health.

About

Melissa Brown

Movable Type
social media management
breaking news
records requests
Wordpress
enterprise reporting
peer editing

I lead Tennessee political coverage for the state's largest newspaper, The Tennessean. In the past two years I've reported on stories with global impact, including in-depth breaking news coverage of the Tennessee Three expulsions and the political aftermath of a deadly school shooting. My series unveiling deep issues with Tennessee's execution protocol, in which I identified the Texas pharmacy that provides the state its lethal injection cocktail, won a top investigative reporting prize in 2023.

My death penalty reporting in Tennessee built on years of work in Alabama, where I produced deeply sourced investigations into the state's failing prison system and botched executions. I also reported on state politics while at The Montgomery Advertiser, the state's largest daily newspaper, and led statewide COVID-19 coverage for Gannett's Alabama newspapers.

Before joining the Advertiser, I covered health & tech for the Birmingham Business Journal and state politics for the Associated Press. I've also worked as an editor in daily news and trade magazines, as well as a historical academic project.

I've broken stories picked up by The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, ESPN, MSNBC and BuzzFeed News, among other outlets. I've reported on the impact of gun violence in Alabama's state capital, used data to illustrate enrollment trends in higher education and uncovered voting record discrepancies in local elections, all while handling major breaking news on a day-to-day basis. I believe strongly in using new tools and social media to enable, package and deliver traditional journalism.

I majored in journalism at the University of Alabama, but I learned the craft in a newsroom, not a classroom. I wrote my first news article for The Crimson White student newspaper and went on to spearhead award-winning breaking news coverage.

Résumé and personal recommendations are available upon request.