LEA ZORA SCRUGGS

Lea Zora Scruggs is an Emmy Award-winning investigative journalist and documentary filmmaker from Miami, Florida. Whether she’s reporting from a sweat-filled boxing gym in Brooklyn, documenting medical tourism in Turkey, or investigating birth defect clusters in Texas, she is drawn to stories that are both impactful and deeply human.

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Lea currently serves as an investigative reporter for a Scripps News station in South Texas, where she has been recognized with an regional Edward R. Murrow Award, a Texas Headliner Foundation Award, and three Texas Broadcast Award nominations. 

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She is also a 2026 Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) Chauncey Bailey Fellow, one of the nation’s most prestigious investigative journalism fellowships. Through the fellowship, she is leading an in-depth investigation into birth defects and environmental pollution in the Coastal Bend, examining the intersection of public health, the oil/gas industry, and environmental justice.

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Before joining Scripps News, Lea served as a correspondent for the Los Angeles Sentinel on CBS Los Angeles.

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Her background in documentary filmmaking has shaped her distinctive storytelling style. She developed and directed Rethinking Strong: Black Athletes & Mental Health for CBS Sports and helped oversee ESPN’s Why Not Us, chronicling Howard University’s golf team.

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Lea has reported, produced, directed, shot, and edited stories for Vice News Tonight, BuzzFeed, National Geographic Studios, and has contributed to The Village Voice, Quartz, The New York Times T Brand Studio, Tina Brown’s Women in the World Summit, and Radical Media.

Her work has earned a National Emmy Award for Vice News’ 2020 news coverage, a Planned Parenthood Media Excellence Award for Jailed for Miscarriage, a National Geographic Explorer documentary on El Salvador’s extreme abortion laws, and an NABJ Salute to Excellence Award for The Harlem Quartet, a documentary highlighting Black classical musicians. She has also received two Gracie Awards and multiple honors for her independent documentary Born Into This, including Best Sports Documentary at the Atlanta International Documentary Festival.

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Lea is a graduate of Spelman College and holds a master’s degree in journalism with a concentration in documentary filmmaking from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. She is passionate about producing investigations and documentaries that hold powerful institutions accountable while amplifying underreported communities.​​