Beth Fertig


Beth Fertig is an American journalist and radio broadcasting reporter. She covers immigration law and issues in the New York City courts for WNYC and is a regular contributor to NPR. She previously covered the New York City public school system, transportation and local politics for WNYC. She is the author of "Why cant u teach me 2 read? Three Students and a Mayor Put Our Schools to the Test".

Education

Fertig is a graduate of the University of Michigan where she worked at both the student newspaper, The Michigan Daily, and the student radio station, WCBN-FM. She earned a master's degree in Social Sciences from the University of Chicago.

Journalism career

Fertig began covering immigration law in late 2016 after the election of President Donald Trump, along with criminal justice reform in New York City. She exposed a Bronx non-profit leader's immigration scam, which relied on a phony ID he said could protect immigrants from deportation. He lost his non-profit, his accreditation by the U.S. Department of Justice and was subsequently fined by the city.
As an education reporter, she received the Alfred I. duPont–Columbia University Award for a 2001 series of radio reports on efforts to privatize certain schools in the NYC public school system—"The Edison Schools Vote"—based on interviews of teachers, minority parents, school officials and the public relations representatives of the company that sought the contract to run the schools. She also won awards from the city's Deadline Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, and the New York Press Club—which gave her a special award after the 2001 terrorist attacks—for a profile of two World Trade Center survivors.
Fertig's coverage of the World Trade Center attacks on September 11, 2001 received attention from writers on the media.

Awards