Rachel Polansky

Rachel Polansky is an Edward R. Murrow and Emmy-Award winning investigative reporter at WGCL, the CBS affiliate in Atlanta, Georgia.

Rachel is most proud of her investigative reporting that has enacted change at both local and statewide levels. Before moving to Atlanta, Rachel spent two years reporting at WKYC, the NBC affiliate in Cleveland, Ohio. During the 2020 pandemic, state health officials began blocking case and death records in nursing homes from being released to the public. It was then that Rachel began advocating for these vulnerable families. After a series of news reports and the use of public records, the state reversed its decision and began unrolling the records.

Rachel also worked at WBBH, the NBC affiliate in Fort Myers, Florida, where she uncovered several cases of child marriage. After her extensive investigation about young girls being forced to marry adult men, a Florida senator filed legislation to change the legal age of marriage to 18. In 2018, the Florida governor signed that legislation into law. Rachel’s work backs up her pledge to be a journalist who makes a difference and holds the powerful accountable.

After a 27-year-old is kidnapped and killed, we dig into her alleged murderer’s history and uncover a schizophrenia diagnosis and a long record of violent crimes.

A man fell and broke his hip. It took two hours for an ambulance to arrive. In critical situations, our investigation uncovered the average Atlanta resident is waiting nearly 30 minutes for EMS to arrive.

Our investigation exposes an incentive system that encourages Atlanta police officers to write more tickets. Officers say they’re placed in undesirable zones or assigned undesirable shifts if they don’t score enough points.