CHLOE SHRAGER

About Me.

I am a California-based journalist currently reporting on the criminal justice and carceral system for the San Luis Obispo Tribune, a McClatchy newspaper on the Central Coast.

My work has earned a first place California Journalism Award for LGBTQIA+ policy coverage, second and fourth place awards for local election reporting, and two McClatchy Mosaic Awards for transgender rights coverage under Trump — all within my first six months at The Tribune. I have also written on nuclear risk for the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, with additional work appearing in the LA Times and Inkstick Media, and spent six months as a Stanford undergraduate reporting an investigative feature on the Marshall Islands' nuclear testing legacy — endlessly driven to show how radiation continuously and disproportionately impacts the most vulnerable. Previously, I covered breaking news and headed a data-driven series on private school costs at the San Francisco Chronicle.

The stories I find most important bring strong investigative journalism to a local level. I previously covered local government in SLO County, breaking the story on election fraud allegations against two candidates in 2024 and covering local impacts of the second Trump administration, with a focus on immigration. Across both beats, I investigated a shady nonprofit bankruptcy and broke the story on a church's five-year cover-up of their pastor's misconduct — he resigned as a result of my reporting.

I graduated from Stanford with a Political Science degree concentrating on nuclear weapons policy, human rights, and journalism — I aim to tell human stories of global importance. I am a proud signatory to the Nuclear Truth Project's Rights, Respect, and Reciprocity Protocols. I take most of my own photos.

In my free time, you'll likely find me outdoors — surfing on the Central Coast, skiing in Lake Tahoe, backpacking with friends, leading expeditions as a certified trip leader, or cheering on my former college rugby team.

Browse my portfolio below and don't hesitate to reach out for a virtual coffee.

Forgotten Fallout.

As one of two undergraduate recipients of Stanford's 2023 Steve Steinberg Reporting Award, I traveled to the Marshall Islands, Arkansas, Oahu and New York to report on the ongoing impacts of the United States' mid-century nuclear testing legacy in the Marshall Islands amid the renegotiation of a key international treaty, the Compact of Free Association.

I studied this history for years prior to my six-month investigation, which took me to places few other journalists have ever been on Majuro (the capital of the Marshall Islands), Ebeye Island and the U.S. military base on Kwajalein Atoll. I spoke to countless members of Marshallese parliament and community advocates, including some of the last remaining survivors of radioactive exposure to nuclear fallout who had never been interviewed before. I conducted in-depth archival research to uncover previously unreported, declassified government documents.

My investigative feature was published Inkstick Media with original photojournalism and maps.

READ HERE