Sunday, January 24, 2010

NewsChannel 5 wins the Pulitzer of TV news

My apologies to the Channel 5 folks for not having posted this earlier. Here's a snippet from the story on their site:

NASHVILLE, Tenn.
-- WTVF-NewsChannel 5 has been awarded one of broadcast journalism's highest honors, the prestigious Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award, for the station's investigation of Nashville's General Sessions Court system, it was announced Thursday.

That exclusive investigation – "NewsChannel 5 Investigates: General Sessions Court" -- exposed judges and court employees abusing their positions, as well as a judicial system in which ticket fixing and political favoritism was rampant. The project was led by chief investigative reporter Phil Williams, along with photojournalist Bryan Staples and producer Kevin Wisniewski.


Friday, January 22, 2010

Bob Battle, former Banner business editor, dies at 82

From the Tennessean obit:

He started working part time with the Nashville Banner in 1943 and spent a career as a reporter, covering police, politics, entertainment, business and other beats, and retiring as vice president and senior business editor when the Banner folded in 1998.

Beth Fortune, Vanderbilt University vice chancellor for Public Affairs, started at the Banner in 1985 and spent 7 years there. She said Battle helped show her and other young reporters the ropes.

“Newsrooms are filled with great characters, and Bob Battle was one of the greatest,” she said.