Richard Belcher’s distinguished career as a TV journalist was defined by dogged pursuit of investigative stories bolstered by public records.
Over his 50 years of reporting, Belcher consistently broke the big story, digging in when government officials tried to stymie him, like in 2017 when Atlanta City Hall orchestrated a document dump.
Federal investigators had launched a massive corruption investigation into Atlanta purchasing irregularities and City Hall responded to records requests with stacks of boxes packed with tens of thousands of pieces of paper.
Official silence was a more common obstacle. When public officials clammed up and refused to go on camera to face tough questions, Belcher simply found someone else who would give informed answers.
“I’ve done document stories where no one talks, and that’s not very good TV,” he said. “Then you have to look for people in your Rolodex. You look for a roster of experts who can look at something and say, ‘This is serious, and here’s why.’”
Belcher is Atlanta born, a graduate of Cross Keys High School (Class of ’67) and Georgia State University, where he earned a degree in 1972. He learned to tell stories over a mic at GSU’s WRAS radio station. His first paid reporting job was at Atlanta’s WGST radio while he finished college. He parlayed that broadcast experience into a reporting job at WXIA-TV, moved to WAGA-TV as reporter and anchor, and spent the bulk of his career at WSB-TV, retiring in 2022.
He cut his teeth as an Atlanta cop shop reporter when the city gained notoriety as the murder capital of the U.S. in the 1970s. Belcher sifted through police records to put stories behind the crime stats, and that work showed him how records could open a window into behind-the-scenes maneuvering at all levels of government.
Belcher honed his records-reporting chops in the 1980s after realizing a treasure trove of investigative stories were stuffed inside government filing cabinets. He set up camp in record clerks’ offices, poring through documents that helped him shine a light on public officials behaving badly. He reported groundbreaking stories, among them the state’s failed oversight of nursing homes and irregularities in Atlanta Housing Authority operations.
Still, Belcher was occasionally surprised at the wealth of information available through Georgia’s Sunshine Laws. For example, in the 1990s, he got a tip that the president of Georgia Tech was in hot water with his boss, the state Board of Regents chancellor.
“I filed an open records request for the chancellor’s appointment calendar, and I realized you could get anything,” Belcher recalled.
His long career as an investigative journalist who held government officials accountable to the public is why the Georgia First Amendment Foundation is honoring Belcher with its 2025 Open Government Hero Award.
He will receive the award at GFAF’s 2025 Weltner Freedom of Information Banquet, 6:30-9 p.m., Oct. 28, at the Emory Conference Center in Atlanta. For information about event sponsorships, please email info@gfaf.org. Individual tickets are available here.
Charles Davis, the University of Georgia’s dean of the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, will be honored the same night with the 2025 Charles L. Weltner Freedom of Information Award. Davis will give the keynote speech.
>>> Learn more about GFAF’s Weltner Award history and past honorees.
