Channel 9 has its new investigative team in place and will trumpet their work in a prime-time hour tonight.
And they aren’t just clocking face time. These guys can point to cases cracked, crimes solved, offenders jailed.
In “The 9 Wants to Know Case Files: 9 Doing Time,” the station revisits stories of suspects arrested after being exposed by KUSA, often after tips from viewers.
Murder, identity theft, child molestation, illegal gambling and other crimes came to light via KUSA, eventually leading to convictions and jail time.
KUSA News Director Patti Dennis calls it “not gotcha journalism, but caught ya journalism.” To coin a phrase.
Sometimes, it goes over the top, with producers claiming that “9Wants to Know” is “making our community a safer place in which to live.” Gotham has Batman; Denver has the 9News inquisitors. Is it vigilante journalism or public service?
That’s tricky territory, but frankly, at a time when the media are held in rather low esteem, it’s nice to see the real-life accomplishments of dedicated TV staffers.
“9 Doing Time” will air tonight at 9 p.m. on Channel 9, with a repeat Jan. 10 on sister station KTVD-Channel 20.
The visuals telegraph the message: TV reporters are working to combat crime!
In the opening segment, investigative reporter Deborah Sherman literally chases down a suspect after Denver police declined to look at boxes full of phony passports, drivers licenses and hospital records — incriminating evidence of identity theft.
“Arrest me for it,” the suspect dares her, on camera.
She can’t put him in handcuffs, but she can do the next best thing, giving the story airtime. Ultimately, the police admitted their mistake, made arrests, and the suspect was convicted and sentenced to prison. An internal police investigation is pending to determine why law enforcement personnel lagged when TV journalists could see there was a case obviously worth investigating.
The KUSA team achieved similar results in the case of a Boulder surgical nurse who stole pain medications from patients in order to fuel his own addiction, and in the case of a crime boss who ran a gambling ring out of his two Denver restaurants.
The story of a habitual drunken driver was exposed on KUSA; the driver is awaiting trial. Another, the case of a man who posed as a decorated Iraqi war veteran, is similarly in progress; since the initial broadcast, he’s been charged with violating the Stolen Valor Act.
And on it goes, with frequent plugs for the e-mail address (blowthewhistle@9news.com) that draws scores of viewers’ tips, legimate and otherwise.
Channel 9 reporters Sherman, Jace Larson and Kyle Clark are supported in brainstorming sessions and in editing rooms by executive producer Nicole Vap and producer-photographer Anna Hewson. Together, they are “the new face of 9News,” Dennis said.
Clark has essentially moved into the role vacated by Ward Lucas. Sherman is the new Paula Woodward.
Any suggestion that newsroom morale remains hampered by the absence of so many big names, departed in the last couple of years, is waved off by Dennis. She acknowledges that the losses were significant.
“Paula and Ward owned it,” she says of the longtime investigators who consistently won top awards and were household names in Denver. It was tough looking at empty chairs, dealing with furloughs and pay cuts and hearing about similar troubles throughout the media in 2009, Dennis allows.
But now a new generation is in place, doing the “heavy lifting here,” she says.
Tonight’s hour is a good introduction to their work.
Joanne Ostrow: 303-954-1830 or jostrow@denverpost.com
