Longtime KVOA-Tucson investigative reporter Matthew Schwartz has announced his retirement, according to an email sent to the station’s staff by news director Cathie Batbie-Loucks.
Schwartz, 66, joined the NBC-affiliate seven years ago following high-profile reporting jobs in New York and Florida. His work over the last four decades has been recognized with more than 200 awards, including four New York Emmys and four regional Edward R. Murrow Awards for Investigative Reporting.
In announcing Schwartz’s retirement, Batbie-Loucks started by recounting his hiring in 2013 when KVOA decided to launch an Investigative unit.
“We knew we needed the very best to anchor this team – an Investigative reporter with a proven track record, responsible yet aggressive, a champion for the people of Southern Arizona,” she wrote, adding that Schwartz was “all of that and more.”
“Matthew fought corrupt politicians, took down unethical judges, shut down shoddy moving companies, held the powerful accountable, and spoke up for so many in this community whose voices wouldn’t have been heard without his help,” Batbie-Loucks wrote. “He did it all with grace and fairness. He made us all proud to be on his team.”
Earlier this year, Schwartz released his first book, a memoir titled Confessions of an Investigative Reporter.
The book chronicles some of the nearly 10,000 stories Schwartz covered over his career, including an interview with New York serial killer Son of Sam, covering mobster John Gotti’s trials, exposing a crooked Pima County detective, and documenting the fraudulent adoption of a newborn that landed a Sierra Vista mother in prison.
“Confessions of an Investigative Reporter is not only for news junkies, it’s for anyone who cares about fairness and their community,” Schwartz told Arizona Daily Independent in March. “But some people won’t like parts of it. I am ok with that, I had to be honest.”
Schwartz was unavailable for comment prior to press time, but in an email sent to KVOA staffers after his retirement was announced he said he was ready to spend more time with his loved ones.
“I have had an extraordinarily fulfilling career,” Schwartz wrote. “My goals were to make life a little better for the viewers, to hold the powerful accountable and give voice to the voiceless. I always tried my best to do that.”
Schwartz’s parting comments included an appeal to his colleagues to not be intimidated in their work.
“Keep afflicting the comfortable and comforting the afflicted,” he wrote. “Keep asking tough questions. Keep fighting the good fight.”
Last week Schwartz’s book was featured as an Amazon Hot New Release and this week it is Kindle’s number one new release for biographies of journalists. The book can be ordered online and purchased at Tucson’s two Barnes & Noble stores.
A book signing and discussion about Confessions of an Investigative Reporter is slated for July 18 at Mostly Books on East Speedway Blvd.
