Marshall Zelinger

About

As a news reporter for 20 years, I have created a niche for active show-and-tell live reporting and simplifying hard to understand topics in stories that are often two minutes or less, and easy to follow in written form on the web.When news breaks, I'm working on story 1A on day one, the type of stories most journalists cover on day two.I am a talented anchor, reporter, debate moderator, photojournalist, editor, graphics maker, social media manager and can do the occassional solo live shot (shhhhhh).When I'm out and about and a viewer approaches me, it's not, "hey, you're that guy from TV," it's always specific to a story or certain coverage. "You helped lower my Xcel bill," or "Thanks for helping me understand that ballot issue." That shows the connection my stories have with the community. When I came back from paternity leave at the start of 2023, I did a story on what is on your Xcel Energy bill and how to understand each line item. Basically, it was a selfish story for me to understand my own bill. Then, I did a follow up about why each line item is on your bill. That led to weeks of follow up stories based on viewer questions. And when I met viewers during the first few months of 2023, they often talked with me about Xcel. That shows a connection beyond just simple reporting.I'm not a humblebrag, but if I were I would list the honors my journalism has received, like one Peabody Award, three Walter Cronkite Awards for Excellence in political investigative reporting, a Scripps Howard Award, three Regional Edward R. Murrow Awards and 17 Heartland Region Emmy Awards.