Joe Bergantino, WBZ, April 8, 2008

Joe Bergantino

WBZ
April 8, 2008

http://wbztv.com/bios/joe.bergantino.iteam.9.566709.html

Joe Bergantino is the I-Team Reporter for WBZ-TV News, Boston.

An investigative journalist for the past 27 years, Bergantino has done several stories that have had a major impact on the lives of New Englanders. For his extraordinary work, Bergantino has won many of broadcasting's most prestigious awards including a duPont-Columbia Award, a duPont-Columbia Citation, the Gabriel Award, eight Emmy Awards, the Robert F. Kennedy Award for reporting on the disadvantaged, several Associated Press and Radio and Television News Directors Association awards and has been nominated for two national Emmys for his work in 2002 and 2004.

In 1992, Bergantino broke the story of Father James Porter, a priest who sexually assaulted dozens of children in the 1960's. Bergantino's stories led to Porter's imprisonment. It was the Porter case that prompted hundreds of priest sex abuse victims to file suit against the Boston Archdiocese. In 2002, the I-Team spent most of the year reporting on many of those cases made public for the first time in a new sex abuse scandal that eventually led to the resignation of Cardinal Bernard Law.

In 2002, the I-Team single-handedly tracked down alleged rapist Father Paul Shanley in San Diego. Two days later, the priest was under arrest. Also in 2002, the I-Team broke the story about a Quincy-based computer software company with ties to the man alleged to be one of Ossama Bin Laden's chief financiers. The I-Team found the company was doing business with practically every federal government agency involved in national security. The I-Team's investigation prompted a probe by U-S Customs, the U-S Justice Department and the White House. Federal authorities seized computers and documents from the company and the case is still under investigation.

During his 19 years with WBZ-TV News, Bergantino's I-Team reports have brought con-artists to justice and saved taxpayers millions of dollars. His investigations have brought about major reforms from Beacon Hill to Capitol Hill and the repercussions of his stories have been felt world-wide.

The I-Team has uncovered weaknesses in homeland security, corporations cooking the books (aired before the Enron scandal), the conflicts of interest of Wall Street analysts, and the connection between money and politics in the Massachusetts State House. Another I-Team report, which exposed an off-shore cancer clinic that was fleecing hundreds of patients, prompted an FBI investigation. Other I-Team topics include the Boston Harbor cleanup project, convicted sex offenders receiving federal benefits, county government, Massport, the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority and the so-called Big Dig, one of the most expensive road projects in the nation's history.

In 1993 and 1996, Boston Magazine named Bergantino Boston's Best TV Reporter.

After a two-year stint as the I-Team Reporter at WPLG-TV, the Post-Newsweek-owned TV station in Miami, Bergantino came to Boston in 1981. He was the investigative reporter for WBZ-TV's I-Team until 1986 when he joined ABC News.

During his five years at the network, Bergantino was a frequent contributor to World News Tonight with Peter Jennings, Nightline and Good Morning America. He also was a correspondent for two prime-time ABC News Specials. In 1988, he was named a political correspondent for ABC News and covered the presidential primaries, conventions and campaign from start to finish. In 1991, Bergantino re-joined WBZ-TV's I-Team and has headed up the unit ever since.

Bergantino is a frequent guest speaker throughout the Boston area and has lectured at universities across the country. He has been an adjunct faculty member at Boston College since 1995 and has also taught at Boston University and Emerson College. From 1997-2000, Bergantino was the consumer columnist and a Contributing Editor at Boston Magazine.

A graduate of Holy Cross College with a Bachelor's Degree in History, Bergantino also has two Masters degrees. They include one in Broadcast Journalism from the University of Missouri and another in Public Administration (with an emphasis on foreign policy) from Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Bergantino is married to Candy Altman, a Vice-President of News for Hearst-Argyle Television. They have one child and live in the Boston area.

WBZ-TV is part of CBS Television Stations, a division of CBS Corporation.