Reporting on Extremism

With the rise of hate and extremism in the United States consistently making headlines, it takes a team of reporters and journalists to cover it. For more than 30 years, Phil Williams - Chief Investigative Reporter, WTVF-TV, NewsChannel 5 - has been doing just that, becoming one of the most recognized investigative reporters in the country. Phil’s series, “Confronting Hate,” has quickly become the go-to journalistic project when documenting far-right extremism, especially in Tennessee. On Wednesday, June 25, 2025, the Program held a virtual event with Phil to discuss his storied career in journalism and the challenges inherent to covering such sensitive topics. This event was moderated by Research Fellow Luke Baumgartner.

On June 25, 2025, the Program on Extremism (PoE) at The George Washington University hosted a virtual discussion on the challenges and ethics of reporting on extremism. This event featured the legendary investigative journalist Phil Williams, Chief Investigative Reporter for WTVF-TV, Nashville, and was moderated by Luke Baumgartner, Research Fellow at PoE.

Phil Williams has had a long and accomplished journalism career. He reported for Florida Today and The Tennessean in the 1980s and 1990s, and joined WKTV-TV in 1992 as an investigative reporter. He has been WKTV-TV, Nashville’s Chief Investigative Reporter since 1998. Williams is the first local television journalist to receive the prestigious John Chancellor Award for Excellence in Journalism, which is presented to a reporter with courage, character, and integrity, and the first TV journalist to receive the Toner Prize for Political Reporting. He is also a five-time recipient of both the duPont-Columbia Award and the George Foster Peabody Award.

Williams credited his initial interest in reporting to his teenage years during the Watergate scandal, when he became “enamored” with the power of journalism to be a truth in the country. Though much of his career has dealt with public corruption, in recent years, he has shifted his focus to hate and right-wing extremism. This transition followed the fall 2023 Franklin, Tennessee, mayoral race scandal that defeated Gabrielle Hanson. Although Hanson was initially expected to win, Williams’ reporting contributed to a massive voter mobilization effort, resulting in turnout four times higher than the previous ballot. Williams’ work on his “Confronting Hate” series has had an impact on local policymaking and voter mobilization in Tennessee. He stated that the campaign was a “real awakening.” 

The key message Williams emphasized in his discussion with Baumgartner was that reporting on extremists does not amplify their platform or give them more power. On the contrary, he argued that investigative journalism serves to expose these groups and their actions, ultimately empowering what he referred to as “normies”, ordinary community members, to respond through informed civic engagement. When asked about ethical reporting practices, Willaims said that he does not give them a platform to simply “regurgitate” their views. Instead, his focus is always on exposing disinformation and hateful rhetoric. He pushed back against the misguided notion that by not giving extremist groups attention, they disappear and go away. Instead, Williams argued that the unchecked growth of extremists on a local level leads to growth on a national level.

When questioned about evolving challenges in investigative journalism regarding violent extremism, Williams noted that there were fewer investigative journalists than ever before. As media organizations continue to face challenges and layoffs in the years ahead, other groups should take up the cause, saying, “It’s got to become a community project.” He emphasized the power that individuals in their respective communities have in countering hate, striking a hopeful tone.