NEW YORK (WTVF) — NewsChannel 5's continuing "Revealed" investigation of Tennessee's Capitol Hill has been recognized with one of journalism's highest honors, the prestigious duPont-Columbia Award.
The highly coveted duPont Silver Baton was given to chief investigative reporter Phil Williams and other members of the NewsChannel 5 Investigates team in a ceremony Monday night at Columbia University in New York City.
The duPont jury described the "Revealed" investigation as "statehouse reporting at its absolute finest."
"NewsChannel 5 Investigates: Revealed" was also the work of photojournalists Mike Rose, Bryan Staples and Bob Stinnett, along with producer Kevin Wisniewski. Assistant news director Michelle Bonnett supervised the investigation. Sandy Boonstra is NewsChannel 5's news director, and Lyn Plantinga is its general manager.
CBS anchor Norah O'Donnell hosted the 90-minute ceremony for the awards that are often referred to as the "Pulitzers of broadcast."
"Tonight’s honorees are recognized for the quality of their work … this truly phenomenal journalism," O'Donnell said in opening remarks.
"But we also want to recognize the courage it took to embark on reporting these difficult stories and the doggedness to complete them. As any journalist knows, this type of journalism is met with resistance — but you never gave up!”
NewsChannel 5 was one of 16 winners, including just five local television stations from across the country.
“This has been such an extraordinary year of events, both in trouble spots abroad and troubling stories at home, requiring reporters to span the world and dig deep locally,” said duPont Director Lisa R. Cohen.
“We are humbled, as always, to honor these brave and dogged journalists.”
Beginning in February 2022 and continuing into 2023, the "Revealed" investigation shined a light on how Capitol Hill really works, giving viewers unprecedented insight into a legislative process where Tennessee’s supermajority depends on well-financed special interests to maintain power and, in turn, often does the bidding of those special interests.
That effort has resulted in more than 50 individual stories and a one-hour documentary.
This is the fourth duPont-Columbia Award for Williams and the NewsChannel 5 Investigates team.
In prepared remarks, Williams described the effort as a "passion project" and "a bit of an obsession."
He noted that, "because of the decimation of the ranks of print journalism, there are far too few people doing this kind of work, especially at the statehouse level."
"And the forces that want to manipulate our democracy know that," he continued.
Williams encouraged other news organizations to engage in similar watchdog reporting, concluding: "America needs this kind of journalism — and if YOU don't do it, who will?"
Among the highlights, the "Revealed" investigation has shown:
- Powerful lawmakers engage in a fundraising frenzy in the hours before a legislative session begins. These high-dollar fundraisers — some call them "shakedowns" — aren't illegal. It's just the way business is done on Capitol Hill.
- Legislation pushed by Airbnb, designed to limit Nashville's ability to regulate short-term rentals, showed how lobbyists use their influence to get lawmakers to sponsor legislation benefiting their clients and how those practices can affect Tennesseans. And it revealed how truth is often a casualty of such efforts.
- Gov. Bill Lee had hoped Tennessee would become a major player in a network of taxpayer-funded charter schools set up by a Michigan college with close ties to former President Donald Trump, calling their approach "informed patriotism." But the college's own teaching materials show how it attempts to rewrite history.
- Hidden-camera video revealed a closed-door reception with Tennessee's governor and Hillsdale's president, who repeatedly mocked the intelligence of public school teachers and questioned whether they really care about what is best for their students. That video set off a political firestorm across Tennessee.
- In politics, those who have the power make the rules. In the Tennessee House of Representatives, our investigation discovered questionable practices allow the state's GOP supermajority to introduce dramatic changes in legislation with no public notice and kill bills they don't like without anyone knowing who did it.
As a result, the AirBnb legislation eventually died in committee, and the Hillsdale schools withdrew their applications. The state House has now created a system to make amendments publicly available before votes.
Founded in 1942, the duPont-Columbia Awards uphold the highest standards in journalism by honoring winners annually, informing the public about those journalists' contributions, and supporting journalism education and innovation. The awards have honored, for 80 years, many of the most important stories of our time from the Civil Rights era and Vietnam to today’s racial reckoning and local accountability reporting.
A jury made up of industry leaders selected 30 finalists and 16 winners from a pool of entries from traditional national and local news outlets across the country as well as streaming and entertainment outlets that have embraced in-depth public service reporting.
SPECIAL SECTION: Revealed
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