Investigative reporter Sandra Chapman is leaving WTHR-TV Channel 13 after 17 years at the station and 34 years in local news.
Chapman announced the news on Twitter on Thursday afternoon, saying that it’s “now my choice to pursue other dreams and goals.” The station announced the change during the evening news.
Anchor Anne Marie Tiernon called Chapman “very passionate” and someone who “treated everyone with grace and respect.”
Chapman has not announced what she’s doing next, telling followers on Twitter to “stay tuned.”
Chapman joined WTHR in 2003 and has won awards for her investigations of the Indiana State Fair stage collapse, identify theft, environmental contamination and cases of childhood cancer in Franklin. The latter won Chapman a regional Emmy Award in 2016 for best investigative series.
In an interview Thursday night with WTHR’s Scott Swan, Chapman said the Franklin story is one of her most significant.
“Those mothers and fathers wanted answers desperately and no one was listening to them,” she said. “They knew something was going on and they didn’t know how to get to it. I was able to start that ball rolling and uncover the contamination they knew nothing about.”
Chapman was also part of the investigative reporting team that won a prestigious George Foster Peabody Award for a series called “Dangerous Exposure” that accused state environmental regulators of lax enforcement that allowed contaminants to spread into neighborhoods.
A native of Fort Wayne, Chapman is also a two-time recipient of the American Women in Radio and Television Gracie Allen Award. She came to WTHR after working 10 years as WISH-TV Channel 8, where she was an investigative reporter and weekend anchor.
It’s the latest change for the local NBC affiliate that has seen the departure of a number of on-air personalities recently.
Matt McCutcheon, a reporter and anchor for WTHR-TV since 2013, said this month that he had retired from the news industry and was taking a corporate communications gig.
Alyssa Raymond, a weekend anchor and weekday reporter, left the station in October to take a job in her hometown of Pittsburgh. And Ben Hill, who co-anchored WTHR’s morning weekday news since 2016, departed in September for an anchor job in Nashville, Tennessee.
Earlier in 2020, political reporter Kevin Rader retired and traffic reporter Mimi Pierce left as part of a change in the way the station covered commuting.
WTHR this month introduced Jalea Brooks as a weekend morning anchor and weekday morning reporter.
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She was able to start that balling rolling? Do news companies proof read stories anymore? Sandra did great work.
Yawning!!
How sad for you!
As individual citizens of a democracy, we need effective investigative journalism at all levels and of all types of concentrated power. Ms. Chapman has played that role well for many years in Central Indiana. May she continue her life’s work with even greater effect — and may she be succeeded at WTHR by another investigative journalist who will serve the publlc at least as well in the future.
THANK YOU, MS. CHAPMAN, FOR MAKING A POSITIVE DIFFERENCE IN THE LIVES OF YOUR FELLOW CITIZENS WITH YOUR IMPORTANT WORK !!
If we want to maintain high standards of journalism, you are a citizen of a Constitutional Republic. The (2) two words are no synonymous.
Staff turnover at WTHR is very concerning ratings will eventually verify need for management restructure.
Best to you going forward, Sandra. Thank you for many years of excellent reporting.
I guess as rating continue to fall the staff will too.
I graduated from Ball State with Sandra as a telecommunications major. As undergrads, we were in many of the same classes. I always admired Sandra for her work ethic, kindness and positive attitude. While I moved on to another career path after graduation, Sandra succeeded in a very competitive field as I always knew she would Best of luck of luck in whatever the future holds for you Sandra, and thank for years of excellent work.