Matthew Schwartz - Confessions of an Investigative Reporter

PRAISE FOR

Confessions of an Investigative Reporter

A fascinating look behind the media mirror that reflects celebrity and power. Matthew Schwartz has spent his long career shining a light in the shadows, uncovering compelling stories. The shortest distance between two people is a great story. This one is incredible, like a friend you wont want to leave.

Bob Dotson, Americas Storyteller, NBC News, the Today show (retired), and New York Times best-selling author

The toughest job in journalism is that of the investigative reporter. One has to be inquisitive, suspect a wrong, feel it needs to be told and then make it happen. Recording the story for television is fraught with insults, physical abuse, and threats of legal action.

Investigative reporter Matthew Schwartz is a professional colleague and a superb investigating reporter. Hes been attacked, harassed, spit on, yelled at, swung at and sued. His professional skin has the outer shell of courage, intellect, and stamina.

Investigative reporters are not crusaders; they are diligent watchers for injustice, political skullduggery, cheats and charlatans who prey upon the innocent and the trusting.

The worst thing an investigative subject can hear from a receptionist is: Matthew Schwartz is here.

Rolland Smith , former NYC anchor and former reporter, NBC News

Everyone in this business writes a book. For some, its one more than theyve ever read. Those books are filled with anecdotes that are meaningful only to the author. But Matthew is a passionate storyteller who has written a thrilling and poignant account of his life and career. I read it in one sitting.

Michael Horowicz , TV news producer

Matthew Schwartz is one of the great TV news investigative reporters in America over the last twenty-five years. This book is riveting and a must read.

Mort Meisner, TV news agent

Matthew Schwartz is a reporters reportera top-notch investigative journalist in the tradition of Edward R. Murrow and Mike Wallace. For decades Matthew hasnt been afraid to tell it like it is, even when his personal safety has been threatened while standing up for the publics right to be informed. From interviewing serial killer Son of Sam to dodging a swinging baseball bat wielded by a maniacal gypsy, Matthew has been a pugnacious fightera fighter for the truth. Now in his absorbing debut memoir, Confessions of an Investigative Reporter, you can savor the inside stories behind his reports in a remarkable four-decade career.

I worked alongside Matthew at WOR and WWOR-TV, and although we were often rivals, we respected each other and I admired his honesty and thoroughness as an investigative reporter. Hes engaged in public brawls with disreputable salesmen and confronted con men and dirty detectiveshis stories are responsible for putting them away in jail.

Matthews reports on homeowners scammed by unlicensed contractors even got his viewers to donate their time to resolve their predicaments. Hes covered four New York mayors and risked his health reporting on 9/11 from Ground Zero. His compelling memoir is a must-read for journalism aficionados and anyone interested in finding out the risks and hardships involved in getting the real story.

Charles Gomez , author, Cuban Son Rising ; former correspondent, CBS News and NBC News

Matthew Schwartz is my kind of reporter. We are both old school. Matthew believes in the most important tenets of investigative reporting: do the research, do the legwork, know all the facts, and go after the bad guy!

When we were competitors in Tampa, whenever one of Matthews stories came on one of the many monitors we had in the newsroom of the competition, I always turned up the sound and knew I was going to see a story I wished I had uncovered.

Although investigative reporting is in my mind the best job in journalism, it is not easy. It involves long hours, reams of paperwork to go through, endless phone calls, meetings with victims and whistleblowers, getting more info on the story with the hope that some will talk on camera. Matthew never shied away from doing that work in order to button up all the angles of the story. He was also tenacious and fearless in tracking down the bad guy to hold him or her accountable.

Im also aware of the great work he did on obtaining an exclusive interview with Son of Sam serial killer, David Berkowitz. While that interview occurred before Matthew came to Tampa, Im aware of it and the work he put in to make that spectacular piece happen.

Matthew is also an excellent storyteller, and if you have any interest in the behind the scenes of a top-notch investigative reporter, I know you will want to read his book.

Ive seen a preview of some of the book and I guarantee it is a page turner that you will have a tough time putting down.

During my six-decade career in broadcasting, Ive worked with and against some talented investigative reporters. Matthew Schwartz is among the top tier of those Ive encountered in my career.

Mike Deeson , former investigative reporter, WTSP-TV, Tampa/St. Petersburg, Florida

Matthew Schwartz propels us into a world few of us have ever seen or even imagined with this candid behind-the-scenes memoir of his years as a prominent investigative reporter. The stories he shares have impacted lives and often changed them for the better.

His honesty, his ability to be self-deprecating alongside being duly proud of his accomplishments, and his page-turning words all spin together to make this a rocketing must-read book!

Lala Corriere , best-selling author

Congratulations to my valued colleague and friend, on forty-plus years of success, working in the toughest trenches of a very rough TV news business!

You survived, you thrived, and now you get to share with us the quirky, captivating, and compelling details behind the stories that fueled excitement in newsrooms, and filled millions of TV screens all those years.

Matthew never let go of the full passion, focus, and doggedness that have been his arsenal for exposing wrongdoers. You see it in every story he produces. And youll read about it on these pages.

Tom M c Namara , host, Arizona Illustrated

Matthew Schwartz is the scourge of scoundrels because he digs and digs until he gets the goods on the crooks that prey on ordinary people. Hidden cameras, undercover stings, sifting through mountains of documents from the coroner, stakeouts, confrontational interviewswhatever it takes. In 10,000 stories over decades, he chased down a judge, nailed a pill mill over-prescriber, a scam school operator, a towing racket, the movers from hell, and a whole colorful catalogue of outrageous rascals.

Viewers and readers benefit from Matthews New York hustle, weapons-grade chutzpah, relentless work ethic, and massive experience. Matthew and I have been friends and colleagues since a previous century when we had our first television reporting jobs in a small town. Ive always enjoyed (and learned stuff) from his exploits.

Jim Randle , former Beijing Bureau chief, Pentagon correspondent, anchor, and editor at Voice of America

After four decades in television news, a few former colleagues truly stand out. Matthew Schwartz is one of them. Matt is the real deal! We have known each other since the late 1970s when we worked together at the ABC affiliate in Richmond, Virginia.

As it happens, we are both graduates of Ohio University in Athens, which has one of the top broadcast journalism programs in the country. The foundation laid for us as undergraduates served us well as we pursued our television news careers. Matthew is among the smartest, most gifted journalists I have ever known. He has always approached his craft with a sense of fairness and a relentless pursuit of the truth.