Tisha Thompson joined ESPN in January 2017 as a Washington D.C. based investigative reporter. As part of ESPN’s Enterprise unit, Thompson covers investigative stories, primarily for Outside the Lines and also contributes to breaking news stories for SportsCenter and ESPN.com.
Previously, Thompson was an investigative reporter for WRC-TV (NBC) in Washington, DC. A fifth-generation journalist, Thompson graduated with honors from Princeton University before receiving her Master’s degree from the University of Missouri Graduate School of Journalism. While in school, she interned with MTV News and Chief White House Correspondent Sam Donaldson at ABC News. Thompson has covered practically every kind of story from national political conventions to F-5 tornados for WTTG-TV in Washington, DC, WMAR-TV in Baltimore, MD, WPSD-TV in Paducah, KY and KOMU-TV in Columbia, MO.
Thompson has been named “Best Reporter” in every market she’s worked in, including the Best Reporter Emmy in Washington, DC and the 2011 Gracie Award for Best Reporter in the nation. Honored with more than 85 national and regional awards, she is the recipient of 11 Emmy awards and multiple National Headliner, AP and Edward R. Murrow awards. She received SPJ’s national Sigma Delta Chi Award for Public Service and is a two-time Investigative Reporters & Editors finalist. Thompson has received several civic awards and, in honor of her public service, was a “Kentucky Colonel,” the state’s highest civilian honor.