Melodie Smith
Melodie Smith has a bachelor's degree in communications from John Carroll University and studied journalism at Kent State University and at the Maynard Institute's copy-editing program at the University of Arizona. She has had a number of roles in her more than 20 years at The Plain Dealer, including copy editor, business copy desk chief, deputy news copy desk chief, writer of the cleveland.com entertainment blog The Morning After, and curator of the Sunday Business section. She currently is the assistant business/health editor, and she also writes movie reviews.
Recent Posts by Melodie Smith
Case Closed
April 8, 2020 by Rachel Dissell, Andrea Simakis, Lynn Ischay, Ellen Stein Burbach, Kelley Benham French, Melodie Smith, Wendy Carr McManamon, Joel DowneyThis multipart series focuses on rape survivor Sandi Fedor’s efforts to track down the serial rapist who attacked her as she discovers that her trust has been betrayed by the indifference of an historically under-resourced Cleveland Police sex crimes unit. Judges praised the team for “successfully intertwining a visceral survivor’s point of view narrative with traditional investigative reporting.” They said the series “meticulously documents with photographs, video clips, audio recordings, public records, police documents, and prior investigative reporting” a “pattern of systemic police department failure dating back decades” which “enabled serial offenders like the man who attacked Sandi Fedor to evade justice for years.” Originally published in the Plain Dealer on September 29, 2019.
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