Stadium Investigation

WCPO-TV’s I-Team stadium investigation is an extraordinary undertaking by a television news organization. WCPO-TV took the lead in serving as the watchdog for citizens of Cincinnati over the billion-dollar expenditure on new sports stadiums for the Reds and Bengals. Now in the third year of its investigation, and nearing the completion of the first stadium, WCPO-TV has reportedly uncovered broken promises, manipulation of numbers in official reports, political cronyism in contract awards, creation of “pass-through” companies and other questionable, possibly illegal activities. The I-Team’s relentless and courageous pursuit of the truth resulted in a state investigation of stadium spending. In addition, the investigation allegedly found Hamilton County well short of its stated goal to award 15 percent of the work to companies owned by women and minorities. As a result the county hired a minority business development director and committed to hiring a contract monitor for the second stadium. Reporter Laure Quinlivan, assistant news director Mark Shafer, news director Scott Diener and former news director Stuart Zanger, along with photographers and editors Jeff Keene and Kenneth Fulk, were tenacious in their commitment to the people of Cincinnati. For conscientious and reliable investigative efforts with significant local impact, a Peabody Award goes to WCPO-TV, Cincinnati.