Award-winning investigative journalist Tony Kovaleski is part of KGMH's Call7 Investigative Team (image courtesy www.thedenverchannel.com)
Tony Kovaleski, ‘84 Journalism, has been recognized with the prestigious Alfred I. duPont- Columbia University Award for the KGMH Call7 Investigation “33 Minutes to 34 Right.” The duPont is the equivalent to the Pulitzer Prize and is regarded as the most prestigious prize in broadcast news.
On Dec. 20, 2008 at Denver International Airport, Continental Flight 1404 veered off the runway into a 40-foot-deep-ravine. Call7 Investigators detected a slow response time by Denver Health Medical Center ambulances, sparking a three month investigation. The investigators exposed major flaws in the emergency response in a thirty minute news special “33 Minutes to 34 Right” broadcast March 14, 2009.
“When 115 people crashed at Denver’s airport that December night in 2008 it was fair for them to expect the best emergency response possible,” said Kovaleski. “…I am proud to work for a television station and with a group of committed journalists who together did everything possible to make sure the emergency response mistakes that followed the crash of Continental Flight 1404 will never happen again in Denver.”
Kovaleski and his KGMH colleagues Tom Burke, Arthur Kane and Jason Foster, accepted the award Jan. 21 at Columbia University in New York City. “We are tremendously honored to receive the duPont Columbia Award and I am even more satisfied knowing the results of our investigation produced a dedicated ‘on-site’ ambulance at DIA, an ambulance that paramedics tell us has saved lives” said Kovaleski.
As a result of the program “33 Minutes to 34 Right”, the country’s fourth busiest airport, Denver International, has put an on-site ambulance response team into operation and Denver Health has implemented a ‘Red Alert’ policy.
See the story “33 minutes to 34 Right” online at www.denverchannel.com.
