Michael Pearson is a lifelong journalist whose career spans more than four decades, including 24 years of reporting, writing and editing for Texas newspapers and over 20 years in broadcast and online news leadership. A 1978 journalism graduate of Texas State University, Pearson is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) and the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA). He has also completed newsroom leadership training at the Poynter Institute and through the Carole Kneeland Project for Responsible Journalism.
After graduating from Texas State, Pearson worked for the Killeen Daily Herald, the San Angelo Standard-Times, the San Antonio Express-News and the San Antonio Light. Throughout his newspaper career, he built a reputation for investigative reporting by exposing major stories involving the deaths of pediatric patients, the kidnapping and murder of homeless people, corruption within the San Antonio Police Department and Bexar County courts, and a bribery case that led to the federal conviction of U.S. Congressman Albert Bustamante. He later reported from the Hearst Washington Bureau before returning to Texas to lead investigative reporting at the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, where he exposed political misconduct involving a longtime Texas state senator.
In 1995, Pearson joined KSAT-TV in San Antonio, beginning as an associate producer before advancing to assignment manager and helping lead the station to the No. 1 news position in the market. In 2000, he became assistant news director at News 8 Austin, where he directed the station's local coverage of the September 11 attacks, earning a Sigma Delta Chi Bronze Medallion for excellence in journalism. Pearson was later promoted to Director of News & Programming, overseeing the launch of Capital Tonight, Texas' first daily television program dedicated to state politics and government, and establishing Time Warner Cable News in San Antonio.
Pearson has received numerous honors throughout his career, including the Sigma Delta Chi Bronze Medallion, the Texas Gavel Award, the national Edward R. Murrow Award for Best Documentary, and several Associated Press Managing Editors and AP Broadcasting Awards. He is married to fellow journalist Kelley Shannon, executive director of the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas, and they have a son, Sam, who attends Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York.
