Scripps names LaGrone investigative correspondent for Florida markets

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Jun 08, 2016, 10:30 ET

CINCINNATI, June 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Katie LaGrone, an award-winning investigative journalist, is expanding her role for The E.W. Scripps Company (NYSE: SSP) to support all three Scripps stations in Florida with original investigative reports, effective in September.

As Florida Investigative Correspondent, LaGrone will continue her investigative work exposing a wide range of consumer injustices, questionable government spending and consumer safety concerns. Audiences of WPTV, the Scripps top-ranked station in West Palm Beach, Florida, already are very familiar with her work. LaGrone has received local, state and regional awards for her work at NewsChannel 5 since 2010. That same relentless pursuit of the truth expands to the other Scripps Florida markets – WFTS in Tampa and WFTX in Ft. Myers.

"Investigative journalism is fundamentally important to Scripps," said Sean McLaughlin, vice president of news for Scripps. "Katie has served the WPTV market well with her investigations and we recognize that the scope of her work has far-reaching benefits for all of Florida. With her new focus she has greater latitude to delve into stories that will get Floridians talking. Katie LaGrone will be the watchdog looking out for those communities."

She was the first broadcast journalist to expose restaurants that served substitute fish when the menu promised grouper. The 2007 investigation by WBBH in Ft. Myers spawned an international investigation by the Food and Drug Administration. The report also won LaGrone a National Edward R. Murrow Award.

In 2011, she did an in-depth investigation at WPTV into the dangers of keyless cars. Shortly after her reports aired, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced it would propose new rules to protect consumers and to help prevent more keyless deaths around the country.

In 2015, LaGrone and the Contact 5 Investigators partnered with the Palm Beach Post for an unprecedented look into deputy-involved shootings in Palm Beach County. The "Line of Fire" series attracted national attention, inspired countywide community meetings and prompted local authorities to adopt a number of new use of force policies. Since the debut of the series, the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Department has had the fewest number of deputy-involved shootings in 15 years.

Before joining Scripps, LaGrone worked as an investigative reporter at WBBH and at WRAL in Raleigh, North Carolina, as a promotions producer.

She graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Telecommunications from the University of Florida.

She will work out of WFTS, in Tampa.

About Scripps
The E.W. Scripps Company (NYSE: SSP) serves audiences and businesses through a growing portfolio of television, radio and digital media brands. Scripps is one of the nation's largest independent TV station owners, with 33 television stations in 24 markets and a reach of nearly one in five U.S. households. It also owns 34 radio stations in eight markets. Scripps also runs an expanding collection of local and national digital journalism and information businesses, including satire and humor video and web brand Cracked, podcast industry leader Midroll Media and over-the-top video news service Newsy. Scripps also produces television shows including "THE LIST" and "The Now" and runs an award-winning investigative reporting newsroom in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1878, Scripps has held for decades to the motto, "Give light and the people will find their own way."

SOURCE The E.W. Scripps Company