Plohetski briefed journalists in January 2024: Reporters Must ‘Corroborate What The Police Are Telling Us.’
Tony Plohetski is a national award-winning investigative journalist, writer and broadcaster whose work spans print, television and digital mediums. In his more than two decades of reporting in Austin, he has chronicled the region’s biggest stories, and his investigative and accountability reporting has led to indictments and prompted new state laws and other government reform.
He joined the Austin American-Statesman in 2000. Since 2013, he has worked in partnership with KVUE, where he is the station’s senior reporter.
Plohetski has received more than two dozen national and state journalism honors, including a national Edward R. Murrow Award, three National Headliner awards and the prestigious Hillman Prize in broadcasting honoring journalists “who pursue investigative reporting and deep storytelling in the service of common good.”
In 2021, he was the inaugural winner of the Dan Rather Medal for News & Guts for journalistic courage, one of three finalists for the Michael Kelly Award for “journalists whose work exemplifies the fearless pursuit and expression of truth” and was named Star Reporter of the Year by Texas Managing Editors, an honor for which he was twice runner up in the past decade. He also has received regional Emmy awards for general assignment reporting, environmental reporting and continuing coverage of a news event.
In 2020, after months of investigative reporting, Plohetski revealed the death of Javier Ambler II while in the custody of the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office. His investigation of the agency’s ties with a reality TV show revealed other questionable force encounters. The show was canceled, and the Texas Legislature imposed a ban on law enforcement agencies partnering with such productions.
