Tony Kovaleski returns to Denver and KMGH

[Colorado Media Newsroom]

From The Denver Post:



Award-winning investigative reporter Tony Kovaleski will return to Denver and to Scripps' KMGH-Channel 7 in a new dual role at the end of the month. Effective Nov. 30, Kovaleski will serve as investigative journalist and as corporate investigative trainer for Scripps reporters nationally.

As the winner of the country’s top awards for investigative journalism, Kovaleski made a mark on Denver with memorable exposes over a decade — notably exposing the slow response time of emergency equipment at Denver International Airport and the practice of state-appointed Pinnacol Assurance board members accepting expense-paid trips. He decamped to San Francisco and NBC-owned KNTV in 2012 as the chief investigative reporter for the Bay Area.

At KMGH he reunites not only with investigative teammate John Ferrugia but with his daughter, Jennifer Kovaleski, a reporter. A spot on the team opened when Keli Rabon departed for Houston.

He will conduct quarterly training workshops for Scripps staffers outside his full-time gig at KMGH, according to General Manager Brad Remington.

Kovaleski said “Scripps came to the table with a package that is an opportunity to grow my career, to talk to and train other reporters at 30 stations.” The company is “all-in on investigative, all-in on Denver.”

Denver is “truly my family’s home,” Kovaleski said, citing the chance to work with Ferrugia again as another draw. “I’m excited to be back as part of that team.” The new corporate trainer duty “gives me the opportunity to work with some of the country’s top investigative journalists to grow an already impressive Scripps legacy of investigative reporting.”

From the station’s release:

“The Denver community remembers, with great appreciation, Tony’s prior work as a determined investigator whose stories uncovered wrongs in business and government,” said Brad Remington, vice president and general manager at KMGH. “His work in San Francisco in the past several years only expanded his reputation as a dogged journalist who turns local stories into content worthy of the nation’s attention.”

“This is a significant hire for Scripps,” said Sean McLaughlin, vice president of news for the Scripps TV division. “Scripps recognizes Kovaleski’s unparalleled skills at investigations and sees the value he brings to both Denver and to fellow Scripps investigative journalists. He will conduct investigative training workshops across the company helping other markets to produce the same high level of award-winning investigations.”

Kovaleski left KMGH in 2012 for the NBC owned-and-operated station in San Francisco. As NBC Bay Area’s chief investigative reporter, Kovaleski exposed significant security failures at critical electric substations in California. He also uncovered a major rodent infestation inside a California food distributor that forced a national food recall.

His work over his career garnered numerous journalism awards including the duPont-Columbia, Edward R. Murrow, Sigma Delta Chi and National Headliner Award. He was Colorado’s “Best Specialty Reporter” in 2004 and 2006 and “Reporter of the Year” for the Texas Associated Press in 1997. At KMGH, Kovaleski will team up with investigator John Ferrugia to give Denver7 one of the strongest investigative teams in the country.



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