Jamie LaReau is an award-winning journalist who joined the Detroit Free Press in June 2018 after spending 13 years covering the auto industry in a variety of beats at Automotive News. Jamie covered General Motors for seven years at the Free Press. In January 2025, she started covering Ford Motor Co. Jamie is the senior autos writer for Gannett, specializing in articles that touch the broader industry, the UAW and car purchases. The Society for Professional Journalists awarded Jamie first place in 2019 for her coverage of the GM strike. She's been named "Best Business Writer" by the Michigan AP awards twice. Jamie has been nominated for a Pulitzer three times and for the 2020 Richard Milliman Journalist of the Year by the Michigan Press Association. Jamie has been a journalist and editor in various roles across her 35-year career. Before covering the auto industry, she covered various business beats at a variety of publications. She worked at Reuters in New York, Bridge Wire Service in Chicago and at various television and radio news outlets across the Midwest, including bureau chief for WHOI-TV in Peoria, Illinois. A native Detroiter, Jamie graduated from Michigan State University in 1991 with a BA in Communications. In her free time, Jamie loves to walk her two dogs, ride her bike, read true crime and cook. Our journalists adhere to the USA TODAY NETWORK Principles of Ethical Conduct For Newsrooms.