John Ferrugia
Naval Reserve (two years active duty in Europe) as a Navy journalist working for American Forces Radio and TV.
After graduating from the University of Missouri School of Journalism in 1975, Ferrugia worked as a reporter/photojournalist at WTVT-TV in Tampa, Florida where he was a member of a team (including producer Ray Blush and photojournalist-editor Jewell McGee) reporting and filming half-hour programs highlighting issues of public importance.
In 1980, he caught the eye of executives at CBS News, including Chicago bureau chief Jack Smith, and producer Joe Peyronnin during his coverage of the National Political Conventions.
He covered important national and international issues, including aspects of the Soviet war in Afghanistan, the Mafia trials in Sicily, CIA-sponsored propaganda in Pakistan, politics, and cutting edge cancer research in Japan.
His investigative reports included medical fraud, inner city gangs, grey market prescription drugs, and the redesign of space shuttle rocket boosters after the Challenger disaster.
Three years later he joined KMGH-TV where he initially anchored the midday news with co-anchor Anne Trujillo and continued to investigate issues of public policy.
The investigative reports prompted Colorado's governor to appoint a child welfare committee that recommended sweeping changes in the state system including a new case worker academy where all county caseworkers are now trained to make sure all are accountable for their actions.
He and the team (Producers Arthur Kane and Tom Burke, and photojournalist Jason Foster) earned a 2011 national Edward R. Murrow Award for the series.
In 2019, an RMPBS "Insight with John Ferrugia" investigation into unlimited access to firearms by mentally ill persons entitled “Imminent Danger” was honored with the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awardfor public service journalism.
Elements of the investigation were aired by the PBS Newshour and shown in a Colorado legislative hearing to explain why a law allowing temporary removal of firearms from the mentally ill is necessary.
The documentary detailed how law enforcement officers and the criminal justice system were often the only response to escalating mental health situations.
The report used dramatic body camera footage from law enforcement agencies across Colorado, never before seen, to illustrate the thousands of annual encounters between mentally ill persons and local sheriffs and police.
Ferrugia was the only North American TV reporter to travel with Pope John Paul II on his 1993 trip to the Jamaica, Mexico, and Denver, Colorado for World Youth Day.
