Hank Phillippi Ryan (born Harriet Ann Sablosky) is an American investigative reporter for Channel 7 News on WHDH-TV, a local television station in Boston, Massachusetts.[1] She is also an author of mystery novels.
She joined WTHR-TV in Indianapolis as political reporter in 1975, then WSB-TV in Atlanta in 1976 as political reporter and weekend anchor. Ryan joined WNEV-TV (present-day WHDH) in 1983 as a general assignment reporter and in 1989, she was named principal reporter for the station's investigative unit.[2] Ryan has won multiple Emmy Awards and Edward R. Murrow Awards for her investigative and consumer reporting.[1][better source needed]
Ryan, under her former professional name Harriet Ann Phillipi, was the journalist whose Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the CIA, and the subsequent court case that arose from it, Philippi v. CIA,[3] created the unusual FOIA exemption known as the "Glomar Response". She had filed a FOIA with the agency asking for records about their attempts to secretly recover the sunken Soviet submarine K-129 from the Pacific Ocean floor in 1974 using the purpose-built ship Hughes Glomar Explorer, as part of Project Azorian, which was one of the most complex, expensive, and secretive intelligence operations of the Cold War at a cost of about $800 million, or $4.9 billion today. Rather than simply withhold certain documents or redact portions of documents, the CIA refused to either confirm or deny the existence of such documents. This type of non-responsive reply has since come to be known as the "Glomar response" or "Glomarization".[4]
Ryan has won multiple awards for her crime fiction, including Agathas, Anthonys, the Daphne, Macavitys, and for The Other Woman, the Mary Higgins Clark Award. National reviews[who?] have called her a "master at crafting suspenseful mysteries" and "a superb and gifted storyteller."[citation needed]
An investigative reporter at Boston's WHDH-TV and a television reporter since 1975, her work has resulted in new laws, people sent to prison, homes removed from foreclosure, and millions of dollars in refunds and restitution for victims and consumers.[citation needed]
Ryan was the 2019 Guest of Honor at Bouchercon, the world mystery convention.[citation needed]
Personal life
Ryan lives with her husband, civil rights and criminal defense lawyer Jonathan Shapiro, in suburban Boston.[1] Although referred to by family as "Ann" or "Annie" while growing up, she was given her trademark nickname "Hank" by a college friend who told her "You don’t look like a Harriet. I’ll call you 'Hank'."[5]
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