ABOUT JOSH
Josh Hinkle is KXAN’s director of investigations and innovation, leading the station’s 13-person, duPont and Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) Award-winning team in accountability journalism, original programming and multi-platform storytelling. He also serves as president of IRE’s board of directors, bringing his leadership and training work to journalists nationwide. He oversees KXAN’s political coverage as executive producer and host of “State of Texas,” a weekly program and companion podcast covering the Texas Legislature and elections, with the program airing in 14 markets statewide. His work on the show has earned three national Walter Cronkite Awards for Excellence in Television Political Journalism: in 2015 for coverage of the women’s health debate, in 2017 for an investigation into border security funding and in 2019 for examining financial questions surrounding Texas’ oil and gas regulators. The program has also received 12 Emmys for politics and public affairs programming.
In 2019, Josh created KXAN’s multi-platform investigative initiative, “Catalyst,” combining in-depth reporting, documentary storytelling, immersive digital experiences, community engagement and a narrative podcast spanning eight seasons. He also created and co-hosts KXAN’s weekly investigative show, “Cause & Effect,” and its companion “KXAN Investigates” podcast. His monthly series, “From the Vault,” revisits the station’s most impactful investigative docuseries and multimedia stories, sharing behind-the-scenes insights and updates. Along with “State of Texas,” these programs reach audiences through streaming, social media and vertical video. His investigations have helped prompt multiple Texas laws strengthening government transparency, consumer protections and public accountability.
In 2026, Josh led “Shadow Force,” a statewide investigation with ProPublica and The Texas Tribune that exposed how local police exercise federal immigration powers during routine encounters, revealing gaps in training, vetting and oversight as the program rapidly expanded across Texas. It built on KXAN’s 2025 crowdsourcing investigation, “Undocumented: Texas’ Immigration Impact in a New Trump Era,” which Josh led with 20 journalists. “Undocumented” received an Emmy for journalistic enterprise and a national broadcasting honor from the Center for Integrity in News Reporting (CFINR). It was also part of a collection of KXAN digital investigations recognized with a National Edward R. Murrow Award and was a finalist for an Online Journalism Award in 2026.
That year, Josh also led “Beneath the Surface,” a data-driven “Catalyst” docuseries and podcast investigating at least 30 drownings in Austin’s Lady Bird Lake over a decade. The project examined persistent serial killer rumors, compared drowning patterns across cities and identified prevention strategies local leaders began exploring following KXAN’s findings. In 2024, “A Hanging on Backbone Creek” – another docuseries and podcast Josh developed with his team – exposed shortcomings in Texas’ antiquated death investigation system, prompting ongoing legislative efforts. It received the American Legion’s Fourth Estate Award and a National Murrow for “Excellence in Innovation.”
In 2023, Josh directed the two largest journalism projects in KXAN history, each involving about 30 staff members. The crowdsourced investigation “TxTag Troubles” prompted a new state law protecting Texas tollway users’ finances and received an Emmy for journalistic enterprise and the National Press Club’s Consumer Journalism Award in 2024. “OutLaw: A Half-Century Criminalizing LGBTQ+ Texans” earned an Emmy for documentary and three honors from the Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists (NLGJA): excellence in documentary, excellence in multimedia and the Al Neuharth Award for Innovation in Investigative Journalism. That year, he also launched KXAN’s in-house investigative reporting fellowship, a six-month program helping newsroom journalists strengthen their research, accountability reporting and multi-platform storytelling skills while developing investigations within their own beats.
In 2020, Josh and his team launched “Locked in Limbo,” a digital-first investigation into mental competency challenges among Texas inmates. The project combined solutions journalism with a companion podcast, earning two Emmys for investigative series and journalistic enterprise, a Scripps Howard Award finalist designation and a Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting semifinalist honor. The following year, they expanded that reporting through “Mental Competency Consequences,” developed through a fellowship with the University of Southern California (USC) Annenberg Center for Health Journalism. The investigation uncovered previously untracked deaths among people awaiting state hospital beds, prompting officials to reassess data collection and a record treatment backlog. It received a 2022 National Murrow for “Excellence in Innovation,” one of three such KXAN awards that year, alongside honors for digital investigations and “Catalyst” podcasting on law enforcement transparency. The latter featured Josh’s testimony before Texas legislators about obstacles to obtaining police records. In 2021, “Justice for Some,” a public corruption series Josh produced with the Texas Observer, also received an Emmy for journalistic enterprise.
Josh has also helped advance solutions journalism at KXAN and Nexstar. His collaborations with the Solutions Journalism Network (SJN) include 2019’s “Save Our Students: Solutions for Wellness & Safety,” which received Mental Health America’s Media Award and was a finalist for the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Leadership Foundation’s Service to America Award, and 2020’s “Pandemic PASS or FAIL: Solutions for Education Equity,” a nationwide collaboration of 16 stations examining the COVID-19 pandemic’s disproportionate impact on students.
Through “Catalyst,” Josh has led investigations that exposed systemic problems and helped drive statewide reforms. “Mayberry Texas” revealed flaws in Texas’ missing persons system, helping prompt a law requiring police to report missing persons to a national public database. The project received a 2019 Emmy for journalistic enterprise, was a finalist for an Online Journalism Award and was among a collection of KXAN digital investigations to receive a 2020 National Murrow. The inaugural season of the “Catalyst” podcast, also focused on missing persons, received a National Murrow that year.
“Dead & Undone” examined deaths in police custody, building on Josh’s earlier “DENIED” investigation. Together, the projects helped lead to the repeal of a Texas public records loophole allowing police to withhold evidence when someone died in custody. “DENIED” won an Emmy for investigation in 2019. And “Dead & Undone” earned an Emmy for journalistic enterprise and a special citation in the News Leaders Association’s 2021 First Amendment Awards. Another “Catalyst” project, “A History of Mass Violence,” traced four decades of mass shootings.
A later “Catalyst” project, developed with ClearHealthCosts, called “Medical Debt Lawsuits” helped spark a 2023 Texas law requiring hospitals to be more transparent about patient billing practices. The reporting received a National Murrow for “Excellence in Innovation” that year. A collection of KXAN digital investigations Josh led also received a National Murrow for multimedia. In 2018, the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) selected “Fallen,” a documentary Josh produced about fatal police shootings and officers’ mental health training, for its national Sigma Delta Chi Award for Best Documentary.
Josh received Emmys as Best Reporter in Texas in 2013 and 2025 and was named Reporter of the Year by the Texas Associated Press Broadcasters (TAPB) in 2012 and 2013. The Texas Association of Broadcasters (TAB) presented him with its Jason Hightower Award for Broadcast Excellence in 2024, while the Austin Alliance for Women in Media named him “Local Journalist of the Year” in 2025 and 2026. Before Austin, he worked as a reporter, anchor and producer in Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Columbia, Missouri; and Oklahoma City. His career honors also include recognition from IRE, SPJ, the National Headliner Awards, Columbia University, Harvard’s Shorenstein Center, the Scripps Howard Foundation, the Online News Association (ONA) and numerous journalism, legal, education and public health organizations.
Josh serves as president of IRE’s board of directors, where he has held other executive leadership positions. He chairs the organization’s Code of Conduct Task Force and previously led its training and member services committees. In 2022, he created IRE’s “Managing Investigators” master class, training more than 300 journalism leaders nationwide through 10 online and in-person sessions, additional workshops and a dedicated online community.
His other roles include serving on the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas (FOIFT) board of directors and the Lone Star Emmys’ board of governors, teaching at the National Press Photographers Association’s (NPPA) News Video Workshop, chairing the Radio Television Digital News Association’s (RTDNA) awards committee and serving on SPJ’s ethics committee. He has mentored journalists of color through the Maynard Institute and is a member of NLGJA.
Josh graduated with honors in journalism and Spanish from Oklahoma State University (OSU), returning as the Paul Miller Lecture Series speaker in 2024. He earned a master’s degree in journalism and public policy from the University of Missouri, where he was a graduate assistant in its political radio reporting program. He taught broadcast journalism at St. Edward’s University in Austin for several years, has guest-lectured at universities nationwide and regularly leads training on investigative, political and cross-platform reporting for organizations including IRE, the National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting (NICAR), NPPA, RTDNA, SJN, ONA, the National Press Foundation and the Constructive Institute.
Originally from Oklahoma, Josh enjoys spending time with friends and family, especially his two nieces. Outside work, he loves movies, traveling and exploring Austin with his dogs, Betty Blue and Bonnie Blue.