Phil Williams is the chief investigative reporter for WTVF-TV, NewsChannel 5 in Nashville.

During his 40-year career, Phil has developed a reputation for fearless and insightful reporting that has exposed corruption, shined a light on society’s most critical issues and confronted hate.

As a result, Phil has received journalism’s highest honors. He is a five-time recipient of the prestigious duPont-Columbia Award and a four-time recipient of the coveted George Foster Peabody Award. In 2023, Phil became the first local broadcaster to be recognized with the John Chancellor Award for Excellence in Journalism, an honor that has been bestowed on some of America’s best journalists. That same year, he was the first TV reporter to be honored with the Toner Prize for Excellence in Political Reporting. In 2024, Phil was named the recipient of the RTDNA Lifetime Achievement Award. A former reporter for The Tennessean, Phil was also a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service.

In 2020, Washington Post media critic Margaret Sullivan listed Phil’s work as one of the “flickers of hope for local journalism.”

In 2023, HBO’s John Oliver aired an extensive segment about Phil’s journalism, dubbing him “Nashville’s Nosiest Bitch” and citing his work as an example of the type of unflinching journalism desperately needed in America.

“If you are a politician in Tennessee, Phil has his foot on your goddamn neck,” Oliver quipped. “This is a bad, bad man. You do not f*** around with Phil Williams.”

Phil is a former member of the national board of directors for Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE), where he led an effort to create the Don Bolles Medal to recognize investigative journalists who have demonstrated extraordinary courage in standing up against intimidation or efforts to suppress the truth about matters of public importance.