NBC Southern California Wins 2012 Regional Murrow Award

Series of articles on regulation of physical therapy centers honored

A series of investigative articles tackling the laws governing physical therapy centers won a Regional Murrow Award—the first for the NBC4 website.

The awards honor achievement in electronic journalism and are named after the late broadcaster Edward R. Murrow.

The series, “Physical Therapy Scrutinized”  was written by Frank Snepp, an award-winning investigative producer at NBC4 who said it focused on whether the state would enforce the law.

Under California law, medical doctors are banned from owning physical therapy facilities,  but independent physical therapists complained not only was the law ignored, but the doctors were trying to get it changed to allow them to own such facilities.

“What the story did,” said Snepp, “is clarify the picture and helped get laws that would have legalized an illegal practice shot down.”

They also demonstrated by wide reach of the Internet since Snepp was on vacation in Beijing when a major development occurred and he was able to contact sources and write an update from overseas.

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