Wednesday, June 20, 2001
7:30 a.m. |
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Media Relations
"How to survive a bad news day"
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 Robert Riggs was one of the nation's premier investigative reporters before recently joining HillCo Partners as a media relation’s consultant. He has received the highest awards of broadcast journalism including the coveted George Foster Peabody Award for Investigative Reporting and three duPont Columbia Journalism Awards. Both honors are considered the broadcast TV equivalent of the Oscar and Pulitzer.
Most recently, Riggs was the lead reporter for WFAA-TV (Channel 8 News Dallas) investigative reporting team. His reports also aired on ABC News, Nightline, and CNN. Riggs also helped develop and hosted a half hour show that focused on the technology industry in Texas.
The American Bar Association awarded Riggs its Silver Gavel award in 1994 for his investigation of corruption in the Texas parole and prison system called “Free To Kill.” The three-year investigation of bribery and parole selling exposed how notorious serial killer Kenneth McDuff had been released from Texas’ Death Row. Riggs role in exposing the scandal was the subject of an hour long “Investigative Reports” on the Arts & Entertainment network in 2000. Riggs reports prompted federal prosecution of top state officials and the first overhaul of the Texas penal code in twenty years. A new mandatory life sentence for violent offenders was named the “McDuff Law.”
The Dallas Crime Commission award its first ever “Excellence in Crime Reporting Award” to Riggs in 1999. The Commission praised his series of reports on the terrorist threat of weapons of mass destruction, the epidemic problem of counterfeit check and identity theft rings in North Texas, and a landmark documentary on heroin traffickers who caused the overdose deaths of dozens of teenagers in the affluent suburbs of Dallas. The heroin series has been used by drug educators to teach parents and young people across the country about the dangers of the addictive drug.
The Texas Press Association awarded Riggs its “Freedom of Information” award in 1996 for his reports that uncovered how the killer of a nine-year old Plano girl had been improperly released on early parole. The reports resulted in passage of a new sex offender registration and public notification law in Texas.
In 1991 the duPont Awards ceremony cited Riggs reports from the Gulf War as the story everyone missed. Riggs revealed how U.S. soldiers were banned from holding religious services in Saudi Arabia. The report caused a national outcry and congressional hearings that forced the Pentagon to lift the ban.
During his twenty years with WFAA, Riggs set up the station’s Washington, D.C. Bureau and covered the White House, Capitol Hill, The Pentagon, as well as federal agencies throughout the 1980’s. He ran the station’s Austin Bureau in the early 1990’s where he covered the Texas Legislature.
Riggs started his broadcast career covering the New York State Legislature. He received his first duPont award in 1980 for a series of reports on corruption and safety defects in the construction of facilities for the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York.
During the early 1970’s, Riggs served as an investigator for the late Congressman Wright Patman. As chief investigator for the Joint Committee on Defense Production, Riggs probed abuses stemming from the Watergate scandal. The investigation uncovered the bribery of foreign officials by U.S. defense contractors that became the subject of highly publicized hearings. It prompted passage of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
In 1976, Riggs worked as a Congressional District Coordinator for the presidential campaign of Jimmy Carter and later worked as a consultant to congressional campaigns.
Robert Riggs received a Bachelor of Environmental Design Degree from Texas A&M University in 1971. He was named Outstanding Alumnus from the College of Architecture in 2001.
Robert is a native of Paris, Texas and the son of the late Stanley Riggs who was a jeweler and police commissioner; and Ruth Riggs who is a retired employee from Paris Junior College.
Robert Riggs is married to the former Beth Arnold of Plano, Texas. Beth is a former staff member of Texas Senator Lloyd Bentsen and currently teaches school.
Robert and Beth are the parents of a 12 year old son, Patrick, and a 10 year old daughter, Katie Lee.
Robert and Beth have been heavily involved over the last decade raising money in support of the Gladney Center in Fort Worth which is the nation’s oldest adoption agency. Robert is an adult leader in BSA Troop 125 and Beth is the assistant leader of Girl Scout Troop 1045.
Beth and Robert coach girl’s basketball at the Park City’s Baptist Church where they are members. |
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