Bastian Obermayer, Germany, is a book author and Pulitzer-Prize-winning investigative reporter, publishing mainly in the German magazine Der Spiegel and with the public broadcasting company ZDF. Together with his colleague Frederik Obermaier, he founded the Munich-based investigative startup paper trail media.
Obermayer was part of the ICIJ’s Offshore Leaks, Luxembourg Leaks, China Cables and several other projects.
While working at the German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung, Obermayer received, together with colleague Frederik Obermaier, the Panama Papers leak and initiated the Pulitzer-winning investigation – led by the ICIJ. The duo also started the Bahamas Leaks and Paradise Papers investigations.
Obermayer has received numerous honors for his work, including the German Reporterpreis, the Otto Brenner Preis, the renowned Wächterpreis, the Henri-Nannen-Prize and the Helmut-Schmidt-Journalistenpreis. He also jointly shared in awards with his ICIJ colleagues including the Scripps Howard Awards, the George Polk Award for Business Reporting, the Barlett & Steele Award, the Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) Award and the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting. In 2016, Obermayer was awarded the Knight-Wallace-Fellowship of the University of Michigan. In 2019, Obermayer was chosen as the Macgeorge Fellow at the Centre for Advancing Journalism of the University of Melbourne.
Obermayer is on the board of the investigative nonprofit newsroom Forbidden Stories since its founding in 2017. He is the author of several books, including bestselling accounts of the so-called Ibiza Affair, which led to snap elections in Austria, as well as The Panama Papers: Breaking the Story of How the Rich and Powerful Hide Their Money.
From the power of working together through to protecting vulnerable reporters, here are some key takeaways from our recent panel discussion.
