WJHL, Nexstar’s CBS-ABC affiliate in Johnson City, Tenn., has been honored by the Investigative Reporters and Editors for its outstanding investigative work into abuse at Tennessee’s last state-run facility for people with intellectual disabilities. WJHL’s Nate Morabito, and photographers Phillip Murrell and Chris Greer work was selected as a finalist in the IRE’s Broadcast/Video – […]
WJHL, Nexstar’s CBS-ABC affiliate in Johnson City, Tenn., has been honored by the Investigative Reporters and Editors for its outstanding investigative work into abuse at Tennessee’s last state-run facility for people with intellectual disabilities.
WJHL’s Nate Morabito, and photographers Phillip Murrell and Chris Greer work was selected as a finalist in the IRE’s Broadcast/Video – Small Market 25+ category along with reports from stations in New Orleans, Nashville and Indianapolis. (The winner was WVUE, the Fox affiliate in New Orleans soon to be owned by Raycom.)
“As journalists, our highest calling is to identify problems and shine a light on them to get them solved,” said Jennifer Dale, WJHL’s news director.
“Nate, Phillip and Chris come to work daily with that as their goal, and I’m proud that they are being recognized among their peers for their hard work.”
WJHL’s investigation uncovered under reporting by the Tennessee Department of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.
In addition, it exposed a lack of proper investigation by local police. The story took five months and relied on hundreds of pages of public records. Parts of the story continued to unfold months after the original report.
Ultimately, the investigation prompted two criminal investigations, the arrest and prosecution of a former employee for abuse, and a change in the neglect reporting protocol in Tennessee’s Third Judicial District.
“To put this into perspective, our investigative team competed in the same category as the very elite of investigative reporters from markets like Baltimore, San Diego and Nashville,” said Dale.
This year’s winners and finalists were selected from among more than 480 entries, according to the IRE.
Investigative Reporter’s and Editors is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the quality of investigative reporting.
Johnson City, Kingsport and Bristol are known as the Tri-Cities region of Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia. The area is about 100 miles east of Knoxville and just north of the Cherokee National Forest.
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