Dale Russell
As the senior investigative reporter, Dale Russell is the FOX 5 I-Team’s government watchdog. He has spent more than 30 years investigating some of Atlanta’s biggest stories. His investigations have helped shape Georgia’s political history; toppling people in power, exposing waste and corruption, sparking criminal investigations, and changing laws.
Dale’s entire journalism career has been right here in Atlanta, where he began as a freelance newspaper and magazine writer. He went on to work as a reporter for WGST News Radio and then moved into television as an investigative reporter.
Dale has broken important stories while covering some of the nation’s biggest events, including the Atlanta Child Murders, the Olympic Park bombing, and the September 11th terrorist attacks. His exposes on Georgia’s Speaker of the House, Glenn Richardson, and presidential candidate Herman Cain led to dramatic changes in the state and nation’s political landscape. His examination of racial profiling by US Customs agents at Atlanta’s airport led to a nationwide overhaul of customs searches. In 2005, he traveled to Iraq to embed with the Georgia National Guard during its historic wartime deployment.
Dale has won more than 50 journalism awards, including broadcasting's highest honor, the George Foster Peabody Award. Atlanta Magazine, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Creative Loafing, and The Atlanta Press Club have all named him as the city’s top TV journalist. Georgia Trend Magazine selected him as one of Georgia’s 100 Most Influential People. He has been inducted into the NATAS Southeast Silver Circle, honoring the state’s top television professionals.
A former high school counselor, Dale is a board member of the First Amendment Foundation, which fights for openness in government. Dale attended the University of Georgia and graduated from Georgia State with a BS in education. The Atlanta native has two children and lives with his wife in the DeKalb County neighborhood where he was raised.
The latest from Dale Russell
North Carolina Voting Rights Groups say man tied to a Georgia company tried to create chaos in election
North Carolina voting rights groups say a man from an Atlanta company tried to undermine their efforts.
Georgia county elections supervisor says confusion caused some to vote twice
Her testimony during an election challenge gave us a rare chance to pull the voting curtain back and look inside to see what went wrong in the Long County election.
Grand jury indicts former city of Atlanta Chief Financial Officer Jim Beard
A federal grand jury indicts former City of Atlanta Chief Financial Officer Jim Beard.
North Georgia city halts liquid landfill deliveries following I-Team Investigation
The Blairsville City Council has voted to halt all deliveries of potentially toxic landfill wastewater known as leachate to its wastewater treatment plant.
EXCLUSIVE: Thousands of Georgia voters report never receiving absentee ballots
A picture from inside a Georgia post office shows absentee ballots from last election that were never mailed to the voters.
Election investigations of absentee ballots and double voting in southeast Georgia underway
Secretary of State and Long County Board of Elections and Registration have opened investigations of absentee ballot irregularities, including double voting by some citizens in the last election.
Magistrate judge claims absentee ballot mistakes cost him election
An Atlanta attorney wants election results for Magistrate Judge in Long County Georgia thrown out because of absentee ballot and other voting irregularities
North Georgia lake homeowners battle landfill liquid discharged into their lake
Nottely Lake homeowners are alarmed about a landfill liquid, trucked from miles away by powerful State Senator, Steve Gooch, to a local waste water treatment plant and discharged into the Lake.
District Attorney Paul Howard's juvenile crime initiative has no kids in the program
Fulton County allocated $500,000 for a program conceived by District Attorney Paul Howard to help reduce juvenile crime. A year later, staff has been hired, and hundreds of thousands have been spent, but not one single young adult has been signed up for the program. Howard blames it on COVID19.
State Ethics Commission fines Fulton District Attorney Paul Howard $6,500
Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard agreed to pay a $6500 fine for violating campaign finance laws. Howard failed to disclose he was paid at least $140,000 from a non-profit formed to combat juvenile crime. A GBI investigation of same allegations is still underway.