Best Local TV News

For nearly 40 years, Monica Pearson (formerly Kaufman) of WSB-TV has been considered the evening news anchor in Atlanta. There were others, yes, but none matched the Kentucky native’s celebrity. After decades of reporting on such stories as the Atlanta child murders and the 1996 Olympics, the winner of multiple Emmy Awards and wearer of 1 million hairstyles called it a career. And Jesus, did WSB-TV celebrate. An in-studio meet-and-greet! A congressional commendation and City Hall reception and proclamation! A farewell ball! Radio interviews! And then ... tours of Monica’s closets! Clips of Monica trying on boots! Shots of Monica hanging out by a lake at the home she shares with her husband. The heady hero worship was, for some reason, oddly mesmerizing once you got sucked in. less...

This year’s turnover in state House leadership wasn’t brought about by voters, prosecutors or an act of God. Instead, it was due to the SUSAN RICHARDSON TV INTERVIEW with Fox 5 reporter Dale Russell. The six-minute piece, in which the Speaker’s ex described his frolicking with lobbyists, is proof that the old-school news media can still affect big changes. less...

TV news anchors aren’t reporters. They’re readers, tasked by TV stations with the job of lending authority and likability to the copy scrolling up their teleprompters. In Atlanta, no one does it better than MONICA PEARSON. Longtime Atlantans remember when she arrived in 1975 from Louisville, Ky., as Monica Kaufman to anchor the morning local-news breaks during “The Today Show.” Even then, it was obvious there was something about her that made you stop what you were doing to watch. Today, she’s a part of the fabric of the city. Pearson’s ace in the hole is her hard-to-categorize-yet-undeniable charisma. Maybe it’s her vaguely diva-esque bearing. Maybe it’s her adventurous hairstyle choices. We’re not sure what. All we know is that whatever “it” is, she has it.

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TV news anchors aren’t reporters. They’re readers, tasked by TV stations with the job of lending authority and likability to the copy scrolling up their teleprompters. In Atlanta, no one does it better than MONICA PEARSON. Longtime Atlantans remember when she arrived in 1975 from Louisville, Ky., as Monica Kaufman to anchor the morning local-news breaks during “The Today Show.” less...

Because he’s sat next to a shining star such as Monica Kaufman for all these years, it’s been too easy to overlook JOHN PRUITT. But as a news reader, he’s the local version of the late Peter Jennings — authoritative, fatherly and never rattled. Pruitt started out as a reporter, covering stories as varied as the funeral of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., the kidnapping of Barbara Jane Mackle and Jimmy Carter’s presidential campaign. Despite a mid-career 15-year run at WXIA-TV/Channel 11, Pruitt will always be associated with WSB-TV/Channel 2 and Kaufman, his longtime broadcast partner. He’s been giving Atlantans their news for nearly 40 years. Between Monica’s ever-changing hairstyles and wardrobe, and Pruitt’s ability to remain steady and ageless, they are the yin and yang of Atlanta television news. less...

You’ve heard the jokes about TV newspeople. The “blow-dries.” The “news babes.” The “rip-and-read” anchors. The “if it bleeds, it leads” sensationalists. They’re all true, but there are good journalists lurking on the edges of the tube. They may not be easy to find, but they’re there. Our guy is WSB-TV/Channel 2’s DALE CARDWELL. He broke, or helped break, the criminal investigation of former Mayor Bill Campbell, the stories that led to the grounding of Gov. Sonny Perdue’s use of state aircraft for personal flights, the accounts of corruption associated with former DeKalb County Sheriff Sid Dorsey, the stories of the financial scandal that forced Fulton Sheriff Jackie Barrett from office, as well as the “mansion fund” stories that led to former Gov. Zell Miller returning more than $150,000 to the taxpayers of Georgia. Cardwell’s been a thorn to the mighty, including DeKalb CEO Vernon Jones, and he’s even exposed the threat of terrorism at DeKalb Peachtree Airport. less...