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Jeffrey Scott Shapiro (born April 27, 1973) is an American investigative journalist and attorney who has reported on several high-profile criminal cases, often defending people who become targets of the tabloid media. Early in his career, Shapiro was a cub journalist for the ''Globe'' tabloid newspaper, but he quickly turned against it, reporting his editors to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for criminal violations, and later testifying before a Colorado grand jury. Shapiro was profiled in October 1998 by Newsweek magazine as a young, dedicated tabloid journalist, but by May 1999, New York (magazine) reported that he experienced a "reincarnation as a fervid anti-tabloid crusader." He has since engaged in a long-standing campaign against the tabloid industry by speaking out against their journalism practices and supporting legislation to penalize paparazzi when endangering the public. Shapiro's anti-tabloid views have been controversial among other journalists, and he has been both praised and criticized by the mainstream press. Shapiro's key journalism investigations include the disappearance and murders of JonBenét Ramsey and Chandra Levy, the Columbine High School massacre, the September 11 attacks in 2001 and the sexual assault allegations against NBA player Kobe Bryant and musician Michael Jackson. He received his undergraduate degree from Florida State University in 1995 and his J.D. from the University of Florida Levin College of Law in 2005. In 2007, he was appointed as a criminal prosecutor in Washington, D.C. assigned to handling statutory offenses that implicated the First Amendment. ==Campaign against tabloids== Early in his career, Shapiro investigated several crime stories on location including the JonBenét Ramsey murder case, the Columbine High School massacre, the September 11 attacks and the disappearance of Chandra Levy. After leaving the tabloid world in 1999, he engaged in a long-standing campaign against the tabloid industry and has continuously defended people whom he believes are unfairly or overzealously targeted. After working for the ''Globe'' from 1997–1999, Shapiro reported his editors to the FBI for criminal violations and testified against them before a Colorado grand jury. His change of heart came at a time when supermarket tabloids were immersed in controversy due to the mysterious death of Princess Diana, who was killed during an intense paparazzi chase in Paris on August 31, 1997. During the summer of 1998, Michael Tracey, a British journalism professor teaching mass media at the University of Colorado convinced Shapiro that continuing to work for the tabloids would be immoral since Shapiro believed that John Ramsey was innocent despite the murder accusations Shapiro's tabloid editors were publishing about him. Shapiro felt compassion for the people his editors were targeting, and eventually he called John Ramsey personally to apologize for his participation in the tabloid accusations against him. After apologizing to John Ramsey, Shapiro walked into the Denver Federal Building to report his editors for conspiring to blackmail lead Boulder Detective Steve Thomas for sealed grand jury evidence. He also told a team of FBI agents about how his editors engaged in commercial bribery and illegal information brokering.〔 The FBI was initially unable to gather enough evidence to refer the case to federal prosecutors, but a broader, simultaneous state case being conducted by the Colorado Bureau of Investigations led to criminal charges. A grand jury was convened by the Jefferson County District Attorney's Office, and several witnesses including Shapiro testified. A key part of the state's evidence against the ''Globe'' were secret tape recordings Shapiro had made of conversations he'd had with senior editors at the tabloid. After charges were filed, the Globe challenged the criminal case on First Amendment grounds, but the Colorado Supreme Court ruled against the tabloid and cleared the path for prosecution. After losing the constitutional case before the Colorado Supreme Court, ''Globe'' editors pledged to donate $100,000 to the University of Colorado journalism ethics studies program and publicly admit they had acted "unethically" in exchange for a dismissal of all charges. In 2000, prosecutors agreed and the criminal case was dropped. In a 2003 interview with CNN host Paula Zahn, Shapiro said he never broke the law while working for the tabloids, but admitted that his "reporting helped inflict a lot of misery on innocent people," and that he was interested in starting a foundation to help victims of tabloid persecution. That same year, ''The Vail Daily'' summarized Shapiro's change of heart, reporting that "he left the tabloid world in a blaze of glory handing the ''Globe'' to the FBI on a silver platter."〔 After reporting his editors to the FBI, Shapiro became an outspoken critic of tabloid journalism practices and has since written numerous columns defending targets of the tabloid journalism industry, and at times, the mainstream press. Among some of the notable political figures he has defended are President George W. Bush, U.S. Senator John Kerry, U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman, U.S. Congressman Gary Condit, Kate Middleton, Princess Diana and former Russian Federal Security Services Agent Alexander Litvinenko. Shapiro has also defended non-political figures including Kristen Stewart, Michael Jackson, former White House intern Monica Lewinsky and the alleged victims from the Kobe Bryant sexual assault case and the Roman Polanski sexual abuse case. Shapiro has also defended members of JonBenét Ramsey's family whom he believes are innocent. In a ''Denver Post'' article in which he challenged tabloid accusations against JonBenet's older brother, Burke Ramsey, Shapiro quoted American poet Ella Wheeler Wilcox saying, "To sin by silence when we should protest is what makes cowards of men." Shapiro later retracted his defense of Michael Jackson after personally investigating the sexual abuse allegations against him for CBS News, and Shapiro wrote a follow up piece in which he admitted that his initial position "was apparently wrong." 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Jeffrey Scott Shapiro」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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