Investigative Reporter
Recognized on the national, regional and local levels for excellence, multi-award winning journalist Matthew Simon served as the senior investigative reporter for WSAW-TV from 2016-2019. His was hired, in part, to help the former news director create the Wausau-Rhinelander market's only investigative unit, which has led to distinguishing NewsChannel 7 from competitors and ratings success. Equipped with extensive IRE (Investigative Reporters and Editors) reporting and computer assisted reporting (CAR) training, Simon’s unique investigative reporting skill set has resulted in a proven track record of breaking and making news.
Wausau, Wisconsin (DMA #134) 2016-Present
Matthew holds dear journalism’s founding principal of being a government watchdog. Approaching every story with the highest ethical standards, his focus on government waste, holding people in power accountable, giving those that do not have one a voice and uncovering the personal stories behind trends results in honest, relevant and compelling enterprise stories. Trained to think in a ‘documented mind frame,’ he provides extensive documentation for investigative content on all our platforms. That comes from Matthew’s ability to data mine, experience with FOIA requests, Computer Assisted Reporting and a relentless drive in the pursuit of the truth.
Highlights from an evolving four month investigation looking at the role the state's youth prison crisis played in the 2018 re-election campaigns of Gov. Scott Walker and Attorney General Brad Schimel. In 2011, Gov. Scott Walker closed every youth prison in the state of Wisconsin, except for the one in the Wausau-Rhinelander DMA, called the Lincoln Hills-Copper Lake Schools. During the next several years both staff and inmates were hurt during a crisis inside the youth prison. The attorney general's Dept. Of Justice staff was responsible for handling the criminal investigation. During the height of this crisis, the former head of the state's prison system Ed Wall was fired as he attempted to move to another state job. After a series of records requests over several months, we finally received documents back adding significant context to this important story. In the closing days before the election, the governor continued to tell voters the focus should be on how he worked to fix the problem. The attorney general said his department's investigation was properly handed. And the fired former employee says this was a miscarriage of justice, where his firing was used to conceal Walker and Schimel’s mishandling of the youth prison crisis.
Madison, Wisconsin (DMA #80) 2014-2015
As Wisconsin heroin and opiate painkiller overdoses have hit epidemic levels, desperate parents say the current insurance system, which they are depending on to help them save their addicted children's lives, is banking on their children's failure. (11/23)
As Wisconsin heroin and opiate painkiller overdoses have hit epidemic levels, desperate parents say the current insurance system, which they are depending on to help them save their addicted children's lives, is banking on their children's failure. (11/23)
As Wisconsin’s heroin epidemic took hold of Dane County, and made it one of the most problematic areas in the state, the number of overdose deaths increased dramatically. That 1,233 percent surge in heroin killing mostly young men in their teens and 20s can be seen by looking at what has happened since the turn of the millennium. Public Health Madison and Dane County numbers show Dane County heroin deaths increasing from three in 2000 to 40 in 2013. Numbers for 2014 have not yet been finalized. (Feb. 16, 2015)