Biography

Phoebe Wall Howard has been an award-winning reporter in Arkansas, Iowa, California and Michigan covering public policy, government regulation and labor union negotiations for two decades. She began covering the auto industry for The Detroit Free Press in 2017. Since then, she has won a series of state and national news, public service, business and investigative awards for her exclusive coverage of supply chain disruption, product launch disasters and defective products built by Ford Motor Co. Her coverage of a magnesium plant explosion that led to a global supply chain breakdown won awards for explanatory reporting in 2019. A year later, her series on defective transmissions knowingly being sold to consumers was recognized as a National Headliner and Loeb finalist. Prior to covering the auto industry, her work at The Des Moines Register was cited by the Iowa Supreme Court when it overhauled foster care policy and triggered a state investigation and intervention at a veterans home serving residents spoiled food. Her stories in Fresno, Calif., for McClatchy exposed fraud in waste management, government irregularities and political corruption. She has worked in TV, radio, magazine, newspaper digital media. Howard earned a Bachelor of Journalism degree from the University of Missouri, Columbia.