Scott Friedman is NBC 5's Senior Investigative Reporter leading the "NBC 5 Investigates" team, exposing critical safety concerns, and holding officials accountable.
Scott’s investigative reporting has been recognized with broadcasting’s top national honors including the duPont-Columbia Award - the broadcast equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize - a Peabody Award, five national Edward R. Murrow Awards, the Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) Award, two national SPJ Sigma Delta Chi Awards and a national News and Documentary Emmy for outstanding regional investigative report. Scott's investigations have also been featured on NBC Nightly News and TODAY on NBC.
Scott’s Peabody Award-winning investigation of financial troubles at Dallas County Schools (DCS) exposed a web of corruption, staggering financial mismanagement, hidden personal relationships and conflicts of interest inside an agency that transported tens of thousands of children to school each day. The Texas Legislature, governor and voters acted swiftly to close DCS and the superintendent who ran the agency pleaded guilty to federal charges for accepting $ 3 million of bribes and kickbacks in exchange for government contracts. The NBC5 reports also sparked an FBI public corruption investigation which led to the conviction of the second-highest-ranking elected official in the City of Dallas.
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In 2023, Scott received the prestigious Alfred I. du-Pont-Columbia Award for his series “Paper Tag Nation” which exposed how criminals were able to infiltrate the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles registration system in order to sell vast numbers of fraudulent temporary license plates illegally. The series revealed how those fraudulent paper plates were often used by criminal organizations looking to create “ghost cars” used in cross-border smuggling, human trafficking, and the commission of violent crimes. NBC5’s reporting helped spark leadership changes at the Texas DMV, legislative action to change the temporary tag system, and a new system for car dealer licensing background checks.
For more than a year, Scott’s team investigated care for injured, active-duty U.S. Army soldiers, in partnership with The Dallas Morning News. The series uncovered hundreds of complaints from injured troops describing mistreatment, harassment, verbal abuse and a lack of care from commanders of U.S. Army Warrior Transition Units (WTUs). Within days of the station’s first reports, the U.S. Army ordered new training for commanders of all 25 WTUs worldwide, aimed at better treating injured troops with dignity and respect. The U.S. House Armed Services Committee also ordered a Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigation.
Scott’s nine-month-long investigation of crashes and injuries caused by police officers using dashboard-mounted computers while driving led to changes in local police department policies and became training material for law enforcement agencies nationwide.
Scott joined KXAS-TV in 2006 reporting, later anchoring the station’s weekday morning newscast, NBC 5 Today. In 2012, he helped launch “NBC 5 Investigates.”
Previously Scott was an investigative reporter and news anchor at WTMJ-TV (NBC) in Milwaukee and a reporter at WNDU-TV (NBC) in South Bend, Indiana. He is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame.
The Latest
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Driven to Death: Dallas's deadliest streets
NBC 5 Investigates examines what makes Dallas streets so deadly and explores potential solutions to the issue.
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Dallas traffic deaths top 2023, so what's being done?
Dallas traffic deaths top 2023, NBC 5 Investigates has been looking into the city’s traffic data. On Friday, local and state leaders held a news conference to update plans to make the city’s deadliest street safer.
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Dallas traffic deaths top 2023, leaders push for change on deadliest street
With more than two weeks left on the calendar year, the traffic death toll in Dallas has already surpassed last year’s total. City leaders continue pushing for change.
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Fort Worth cold case families feel ‘forgotten' as small police unit juggles cases
Families of victims of unsolved murders say short staffing at a North Texas police department has left them feeling forgotten.
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Fort Worth cold case families feel ‘forgotten' as small police unit juggles 1,000 cases
Families who have suffered from some of Fort Worth’s most heinous and mysterious unsolved crimes say a lack of staff in the Fort Worth Police Department’s Cold Case Unit has left Justice Shelved in their decades-long struggles for answers.
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Questions surround speed enforcement on Dallas freeways
New questions about what’s happened to speed enforcement on Dallas freeways. NBC 5 Investigates has discovered data showing a dramatic drop in tickets issued by Dallas County Sheriffs Deputies — who patrol some of our busiest highways. Senior investigative reporter Scott Friedman continues our traffic safety series — Driven to Death.
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Dallas sheriff's deputies write 65% fewer speeding tickets than 5 years ago, data shows
Data obtained by NBC 5 Investigates shows the number of speeding tickets given by Dallas County deputies is way down over the last five years. Where is the speed enforcement on busy freeways?
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Inside the Carrollton fentanyl overdose investigation
After a string of juvenile overdoses and deaths, here’s how investigators traced deadly fentanyl pills from DFW suppliers to the doorstep of one of Mexico’s most infamous cartels.
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How Carrollton police, Dallas DEA traced fentanyl pills from teen deaths to Mexico's Sinaloa cartel
After a string of fentanyl deaths and overdoses in teens, federal agents and police in Carrollton traced the pills from DFW suppliers to the doorstep of one of Mexico’s most infamous drug cartels.
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NBC 5 Investigates: Justice Shelved
New developments in the massive backlog of sexual assault evidence in Fort Worth. Fort Worth Police Chief Neil Noakes acknowledged on Monday he was aware a year ago that 0hundreds of rape kits had missed state testing deadlines. Senior investigative reporter Scott Friedman asked that question in a frank and open discussion with the chief.
