“The State of Our Children”

KVUE News, ABC TV 
December 16, 2015

The State of Our Children is worthy of a Headliners award for its innovative approach to an important state-wide problem. The investigation revealed child poverty getting worse in some parts of the state, and staying the same in others, despite a drop in unemployment. KVUE News’ investigative reporter Andy Pierrotti analyzed 25 years worth of U.S. Census data for all of the states’ 254 counties. KVUE News then provided the data to ten Tegna-owned TV stations in Texas for reporters to review trends specific to their communities. On December 16th, 2015, all ten TV stations aired stories on child poverty in their markets. Interviews with families and children living in these communities helped illustrate the data in a way viewers could understand. The data was also uploaded into an interactive map and embedded in our online web story for viewers to identify poverty rates near them. In addition to raising awareness child poverty in Texas, Tegna TV stations collected $5,553 and more than 10,000 diapers for needy families.

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Submitted by Andy Pierrotti.