NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — For the second consecutive year, NewsChannel 5 has received one of journalism's highest honors, the coveted George Foster Peabody Award.
The entry, titled "Confronting Hate," is part of NewsChannel 5's continuing "Hate Comes to Main Street" investigation of neo-Nazi agitators, white Christian nationalists and QAnon conspiracy theorists in Tennessee. The nearly two-year project has been led by chief investigative reporter Phil Williams and photojournalist/editor Bryan Staples.
It is the fifth Peabody Award for Williams, the fourth for Staples and NewsChannel 5.
"Phil Williams of WTVF-NewsChannel 5 conducted extensive investigations into the rise of right-wing extremism in Tennessee, uncovering the influence of neo-Nazis and white Christian nationalists, all while facing targeted harassment online," the Peabody Awards Board of Jurors commented in their announcement.
"His impactful reporting not only highlighted a pressing issue in American politics but also led to a state investigation into a local police official promoting conspiracy theories."
Assistant news director Michelle Bonnett supervised the project. Sandy Boonstra is news director. Richard Eller is station manager. Lyn Plantinga is general manager.
Photojournalist Mike Rose and Catherine Steward also contributed.
Click here to read the list of winners.
The NewsChannel 5 team received a Peabody Award last year for the first phase of the "Hate Comes to Main Street" investigation.Those stories focused on the campaign of Franklin mayoral candidate Gabrielle Hanson, including her ties to white supremacists.
Continuing with more than two dozen individual stories in 2024, the "Confronting Hate" reports confronted the political extremism that has infected public life in Tennessee. Those stories led to a criminal probe by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation into misconduct inside a local police department headed by a QAnon-aligned assistant chief.
Among the highlights of the investigation:
- Data suggests that neo-Nazis, white supremacists and other hate groups have targeted the Volunteer State with racist flyers at an alarming rate, signaling a more brazen and calculated focus on the state.
- Williams directly confronted neo-Nazis who descended upon Nashville in the summer of 2024, exposing their own hypocrisy and the lies they were trying to spread across the city.
- Williams later revealed efforts by white Christian nationalists to relocate to a small Tennessee community to establish a haven for extremists like themselves. Local residents, who were previously unaware of that effort, responded with outrage.
- Confronting the head of a white-supremacist conference that now calls Tennessee its “home away from home,” NewsChannel 5 exposed the extremists behind the so-called American Renaissance Conference.
- In a multi-part series of stories, the NewsChannel 5 investigation revealed how the Millersville, Tennessee, Police Department was being led by a QAnon-aligned assistant police chiefwho had espoused bizarre conspiracy theories involving some of the country’s most prominent political and business figures.
- Among Shawn Taylor’s unfounded conspiracy theories was his claim that Metro Nashville police may have staged video released following the tragic Covenant School shooting in March 2023.
- Continuing to pursue his conspiracy theories, Taylor teamed up with a so-called “pedophile hunter” who blames pedophilia on “a satanic cult masquerading as Jews.” Craig “Sawman” Sawyer’s team ran a child predator sting for the Millersville Police Department that resulted in one arrest.
- Then, our investigation discovered that a Millersville detective appeared to have committed perjury about the sting.
- As NewsChannel 5’s investigation continued to unfold, it revealed questions about the backgrounds of both Taylor and Sawyer. When faced with attacks from Sawyer, Williams used the opportunity to examine how conspiracy theorists manipulate their followers.
- The investigation also revealed claims by noted Arizona election denier Mark Finchem that his group, with Shawn Taylor’s help, may have illegally gained access to Americans’ banking records.
Chosen each year by a diverse board of jurors through unanimous vote, Peabody Awards are given in the categories of entertainment, documentary, news, podcast/radio, arts, children’s and youth and public service programming.
“The winners of the 85th annual Peabody Awards encompass a wide range of contemporary and historical issues, including the war in Gaza, rural healthcare, a focus on disabilities, authoritarianism, and sexual violence,” said Jeffrey Jones, executive director of Peabody.
“Whether enlightening audiences on global issues or bringing a smile and sense of community through thoughtful entertainment, these works deserve to be recognized and celebrated.”
The winners of the 85th annual Peabody Awards will be celebrated on Sunday, June 1 at a ceremony at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Los Angeles, hosted by Roy Wood Jr.
Earlier this year, Williams and NewsChannel 5 were awarded the prestigious duPont-Columbia Award for the same project.
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Do you have information that would help me with my investigation? Send me your tips: phil.williams@newschannel5.com
RELATED STORIES:
June 24, 2024: Data compiled by watchdog groups suggests that neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and other hate groups have targeted the Volunteer State with racist flyers at an alarming rate in the past year, signaling a more brazen and calculated focus on the state. The statistics are alarming.
July 19, 2024: Standing on what is now the Diane Nash Plaza — named after the civil rights legend who came here to confront a Nashville mayor and a community's racism — I decided to confront the hate that has once again reared its ugly head. Click here to watch my exchange.
August 20, 2024: He warned me there would be consequences if I failed to comply with his demands to air a white-supremacist video. Then, nothing happened. And now that man faces his own consequences. Read more about Kai Liam Nix.
September 16, 2024: Millersville, Tennessee, is gaining national attention for an approach to governing that democracy advocates fear. Here, conspiracy theorists carry guns and badges, using their police powers to explore notions that are sometimes completely divorced from reality. You can find a series of stories here.
November 18, 2024: An exclusive NewsChannel 5 investigation has discovered that those Christian nationalists have set their sights on a remote Middle Tennessee county, hoping to attract hundreds, even thousands, of like-minded people from across the country as part of efforts, in the words of one activist, to “radicalize Main Street.” Find the full story here.
November 25, 2024: As word spread across Jackson County, a gathering of friends quickly grew into an impromptu town hall. Some just came with questions — others, with deep concerns. Watch the full story.
December 2, 2024: The American Renaissance Conference — which calls Montgomery Bell State Park its "home away from home" — provides yet another example of the rise of hate and extremism in Tennessee. Watch what happened when Phil Williams went to this influential hate conference.
December 9, 2024: Podcaster C.Jay Engel thinks I’m part of a grand conspiracy, twisting his words and the views of his Christian nationalist partner Andrew Isker, apparently taking orders from what he calls "the American Regime." Here are the facts.
December 26, 2024: "Rarely in my nearly 40-year career as a journalist have I felt the target on my back as continuously and intensely as I have in the last 15 months." Read this personal reflection by Phil Williams.
January 17, 2025: It's an image that again shows hate rearing its ugly head in Middle Tennessee: a neo-Nazi standing in the lobby of Nashville’s Jewish Community Center while wearing a costume that mocks an Orthodox rabbi. See the neo-Nazis' videos and chats.
January 23, 2025: A manifesto left behind by the Antioch High School shooter reveals a 17-year-old young man who was sucked into the world of hate and never found his way out, says a veteran researcher who specializes in hate and political extremism.
January 27, 2025: For as long as he can remember, Gunner Joseph Fisher, 18, has thought about mass murder. Driven by a hatred of Jews, African Americans and Muslims, Fisher believed he was “bound to murder.”
March 3, 2025: From their participation in a conference in Middle Tennessee, to the compound being built in East Tennessee, Patriot Front has become a growing presence in Tennessee. Who are they? Phil Williams investigates.
March 6, 2025: Dramatic video obtained by NewsChannel 5 shows why a Canadian neo-Nazi now faces new charges for an assault back in July on the streets of Nashville. That video was captured by a group of neo-Nazis themselves.
April 14, 2025: A recent guest hosted by the Christian nationalist podcasters in Jackson County, Tennessee, highlights their willingness to flirt with ideas that critics call antisemitic and with characters who engage in Holocaust denial. Andrew Isker himself believes Jews should be treated as second-class citizens because, as he puts it, “this country belongs to Jesus.”
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