The University of Mississippi has produced thousands of successful graduates, most of whom credit Ole Miss in some part for their successful careers.
Tony Plohetski is one of these renowned graduates. He was honored by the university and the School of Journalism and New Media on October 26, 2023, when he spoke to a packed auditorium at the Overby Center for Southern Journalism and Politics on campus about his coverage of the mass shooting in 2022 at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.
Plohetski, a reporter for the Austin American-Statesman since 2000 and KVUE in Austin since 2013, has earned two dozen national and state journalism prizes for his work, including a national Edward R. Murrow Award and four National Headliner awards. He was named Star Reporter of the Year by Texas Managing Editors in 2021 and 2023 and Best Television Reporter by the Texas Association of Broadcasters and the Texas Headliners Foundation in 2023. Plohetski was the lead reporter the Amerian-Statesman’s coverage of the Uvalde school shooting that was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize Gold Medal for public service.
During his talk at the Overby Center, Plohetski described covering a tragic event and how he was able to release the surveillance footage from inside the school that showed law enforcement’s delayed and inadequate response to the shooter. Plohetski was the first journalist to obtain the 77-minute hallway video recording.
As the story of the shooting initially unfolded, the media did not know about how big a part the police officers’ response would play. However, Plohetski has done extensive work on police accountability, so he was able to quickly detect this aspect of the story.
“The parents knew early on that the response had not been what it should have,” Plohetski said, recounting what it was like when he arrived on the scene. Crying parents had no idea whether their children were safe, and they could tell that it was taking far too long to find out anything about what was happening inside the school.
Many parents were angry not just from a lack of response from the people sworn to protect, but also at Plohetski for getting the video from inside the school released. And while Plohetski and the newsroom leaders had their own doubts about publishing the footage, they decided that their job as journalists was to shine light on the truth. They felt that everybody should know about what happened that day.
Plohetski closed the event by offering his advice to Ole Miss journalism students who hope to cover stories that matter to people: There is no such thing as a bad assignment. Any story can impact someone’s day.
He closed with a reminder to students to live their own lives, saying, “Remember where a journalist’s job starts and stops.”