Kate Martin
Senior Data Reporter, APM Reports
Meet Kate Martin
Kate Martin is a senior data reporter for APM Reports.
She most recently served as the sexual violence and health reporter at NBC News, where she filed hundreds of state- and local-level records requests related to infant deaths. She contributed to an investigation that revealed more than 160 babies died in incidents involving nursing pillows since 2007. The team created a first-of-its-kind analysis based on public records and internal federal data to tell the story. A month after that investigation ran, the Consumer Product Safety Commission approved the first safety requirements for nursing pillows to prevent infant deaths.
Before her work at NBC, Kate was the lead investigative reporter at Carolina Public Press, where she served as the lead data reporter on an 11-newsroom project that examined the outcomes of sexual assault prosecutions in North Carolina. After the stories ran, North Carolina’s governor signed a law that eliminated two loopholes on consent.
Another project, on the rarity of rural sexual assault nurse examiners, led state legislators to create a SANE nurse training hub at Fayetteville State University, a historically Black university. Following this reporting, Congress approved $30 million per year to train and retain SANE nurses in rural tribal communities through 2028. Her reporting on wrongdoing by Cherokee County North Carolina's social services workers resulted in arrests, criminal indictments and felony convictions.
Kate’s reporting has received several awards and distinctions including the Consumer Reporting Award from the New York Press Club, and multiple awards from the North Carolina Press Association, including in investigative reporting, public service journalism, a Media and the Law Award and a Freedom of Information Award.
Kate attended the College of Charleston in Charleston, S.C. When not asking for public records, she enjoys spending time with her husband, 3D printing and stargazing.