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David Schechter

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David Schechter
Schechter in Mauna Loa, Hawaii (2022)
Born (1971-02-16) February 16, 1971 (age 53)
Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
EducationUniversity of Michigan (BA)
OccupationJournalist
EmployerCBS News
Known forClimate change journalism
TelevisionOn the Dot with David Schechter
Honoursdu-Pont Colombia Award

David Merrill Schechter (born February 16, 1971) is an American journalist and CBS's National Climate Correspondent, reporting on the global risks of climate change. Schechter previously worked as a local news reporter in Dallas, Minneapolis, Dubuque, Youngstown, and Kansas City. Schechter has won three Edward R. Murrow Awards[1] for documentary, three Scripps Howard National Journalism Awards,[2] the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Political Reporting,[3] as well as a Alfred duPont-Columbia University Award,[4] which is regarded as the broadcast version of a Pulitzer Prize. Schechter is a patented inventor.[5]

Early life and education

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David Schechter was born to Neal Schechter and Marilyn Schechter, née Levin. He and his sister Buffy were born into a Jewish family in West Bloomfield, Michigan. His parents owned and operated Camp Walden, a children's' summer camp in northern Michigan for much of Schechter's life. During the school year, his father worked as a physical education teacher and his mother as an artist. Schechter attended West Bloomfield High School.

In 1989, while still in high school, Schechter won a Columbia Scholastic Press Gold Circle Award[6] for a sports feature about CBS newscaster Pat O'Brien, called "At The Half: A Behind the Scenes Look at Pat O'Brien." The piece went on to be featured in the Detroit Pistons in-house magazine as well as the NBA league magazine, Hoop.

Schechter and O'Brien in the early 1990s

Over the years, O'Brien would become a mentor to Schechter. After reading the piece by Schechter, O'Brien would send a note in April of 1989 reading "if you keep writing like that, not only will you be working for At The Half...you'll be hosting the thing! See you during the playoffs." The two would become friends in the years to come.

Schechter attended the University of Michigan, where he was a member of Zeta Beta Tau fraternity and worked as a sports reporter for the Michigan Daily student newspaper. In 1993 he graduated with a Bachelors Degree in Communication.

Career

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Local news (1993–2022)

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Immediately after college, Schechter started his career in Dubuque, Iowa in 1993 as a Primary Anchor at KDUB-TV, a now-closed local television station.

Schechter interviewing a boy in Dubuque, Iowa

After two years in Iowa, Schechter transitioned to WFMJ-TV in Youngstown, Ohio in 1995.

Soon after, Schechter moved to WDAF-TV in Kansas City, Missouri in 1996.[7] In Missouri, Schechter worked as a Special Projects Reporter until 1999.

Schechter's next stop was as an Investigative Reporter at WCCO-TV in Minneapolis, Minnesota from 1999-2006. In Minneapolis, Schechter dug deep into investigative reporting with an emphasis on equality with stories like "Access Denied," where he investigated discrimination on the basis of race using hidden cameras at a local club.[8] At WCCO, Schechter created The Last Flagraiser with photojournalist Thomas Aviles, a 2003 regional-Emmy-winning, documentary length piece following the last living service member from the raising of the flag on Iwo Jima in World War Two.[9] It was for this documentary that Schechter won his first Edward R. Murrow Award.[10]

WFAA

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Finally, Schechter landed at WFAA-TV in Dallas, Texas, where he stayed from 2006 to 2022. As a senior reporter, Schechter spent his first ten years at WFAA covering typical local news. In 2015, Schechter gained recognition for his documentary following the 2013 West Fertilizer Company Explosion; the news documentary, titled Rise Up, West: Recovery Starts on the 50-Yard Line, won Schechter his second Murrow Award.[11]

Schechter anchors the WFAA nightly news in 2016

It was in 2016 that Schechter and his partner Chance Horner developed Verify Road Trip, a cutting-edge show in which Schechter would bring a skeptical viewer along with him on a road trip to challenge their previously held beliefs.[12] In 2020, he won his third Murrow Award for "Borderlands" after bringing a conservative viewer to the Texas-Mexico border to examine the implications of expanding the border wall.[13]

In 2020 and 2021, Schechter ran "Banking Below 30," an investigative series that exposed systemic racism entrenched in the banking industry, focusing on racial redlining in Dallas.[14] In a congressional hearing, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell stated the series "shows we need real vigilance in making sure that banks honor their obligations to serve minority communities, low- and moderate-income communities, within their operating areas."[15] And that "that [story] got our attention. We can't talk about individual institutions of course, but we take this very seriously."[15]

Climate coverage
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It was with Verify Road Trip that Schechter began covering climate change, realizing the pattern's threat and need for additional news coverage from a local level.[16] In 2020, Schechter and his partner, Chance Horner, released "Verify Road Trip: Climate Truth," an hour-long piece where they took a climate-change skeptic on the road to challenge his beliefs, from Texas to Alaska. The piece earned Schechter a 2020 Scripps Howard Award[17] and a 2021 duPont-Columbia Award,[18][19] widely accepted as the broadcast equivalent of a Pulitzer Prize.

Schechter left WFAA in July of 2022 after 16 years at the station.[20]

CBS News (2022–present)

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Schechter at a California snow lab in 2023

In August of 2022, Schechter announced that he was taking a job at CBS News as a member of their new Innovation Lab, a branch of the business intended to experiment with next-generation storytelling.[21] [22] As the National Climate Correspondent for CBS, Schechter runs segments on climate change in local markets around the country. He started with his show On the Dot with David Schechter, and his work has since transitioned to the CBS Evening News segment Eye on America, CBS Mornings, and CBS Saturday Morning.[23][24][25] Schechter debuted the first episode in January of 2023.[26] His pieces have covered forest fires; the effects of light pollution; sea-level rise; climate-change anxiety; university climate divestment; the effects of greenhouse gasses; climate-related extinction, specifically of the Yarrow's spiny lizard;[27] and more.

In December of 2023, Schechter capped off CBS's weeklong docu-series "Warming Signs" with an hour-long piece in which he visited Svalbard, Norway, the fastest-warming area on planet earth.[28]

In 2023, Schechter co-founded the CBS E-Team, where he trains local reporters, meteorologists, and news managers on better ways to locally cover climate change.[29][30]

In September 2024, Schechter became CBS's main climate correspondent after the network parted ways with correspondent Ben Tracy. Soon after, Schechter began taking part in more live appearances on CBS network news under CBS's Climate Watch.[31]

Schechter also writes broadly circulated opinion pieces on the how local journalists can better cover climate change.[32][33]

Personal life

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Schechter lives in Dallas, Texas with his wife Janet and son Henry. He is an Ethics Fellow at the Poynter Institute.[34]

He is a patented inventor for an intelligent news management platform and social network.[5]

Awards

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Awards
Year Award Name Work Title Category Status
1990 Columbia Scholastic Press Gold Circle Award At The Half: A Behind the Scenes Look at Pat O'Brien[6] Print Feature Won
2006 Edward R. Murrow Awards The Last Flagraiser[10] Documentary Won
2015 Edward R. Murrow Awards Rise Up, West[11] Documentary Won
2020 Edward R. Murrow Awards Verify Road Trip: Climate Truth[35] Documentary Won
2020 Scripps Howard Award Verify Road Trip: Climate Truth[10] Documentary Won
2020 duPont-Columbia Award Verify Road Trip: Climate Truth[18][19] Documentary Won
2018 James Beard Foundation Award Verify Road Trip[36][37] Segment Finalist
2010 Scripps Howard Award "Deporting Justice"[38] Series Won

References

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  1. ^ "WFAA wins 6 regional Murrow Awards, including top honors in Overall Excellence and Breaking News Coverage categories". wfaa.com. 2022-05-17. Retrieved 2024-03-18.
  2. ^ McCarter, Rebecca (2020-03-03). "The Winners Of The 67th Scripps Howard Awards Announced". Scripps. Retrieved 2024-03-18.
  3. ^ "David Schechter - CBS News". www.cbsnews.com. 2023-09-19. Retrieved 2024-03-18.
  4. ^ "WFAA wins duPont-Columbia Award, broadcast equivalent of Pulitzer Prize, for reporting on climate change". wfaa.com. 2021-02-09. Retrieved 2024-03-18.
  5. ^ a b US patent 9569467B1 
  6. ^ a b "Columbia Scholastic Press Association | Awards Programs | CSPA Gold Circle Awards CSPA Scholastic Gold Circle Awards: Past Recipients, by Year | Columbia University Pre-College Programs". precollege.sps.columbia.edu. Retrieved 2024-03-23.
  7. ^ "Television station sues University of Missouri system for violating open-records act". Student Press Law Center. 2000-05-10. Retrieved 2024-03-18.
  8. ^ Woods, Keith (2002-08-21). "The Essence of Excellence". Poynter. Retrieved 2024-03-18.
  9. ^ "2003 Emmy® Awards Nominees & Recipients". Upper Midwest Emmys®. Retrieved 2024-03-18.
  10. ^ a b c murrow.rtdna.org https://murrow.rtdna.org/award-winners.php. Retrieved 2024-03-18. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  11. ^ a b Bahari, Sarah (April 7, 2014). "Documentary tells West's story through football team".
  12. ^ Wilner, Tamar. "A TV station taps viewers to help 'truth-test' the news". Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved 2024-03-18.
  13. ^ "Trump's Wall vs. landowners in the way". wfaa.com. 2018-02-23. Retrieved 2024-03-18.
  14. ^ "'You're only crippling us': Banks own many of Dallas' low-income, high-crime apartments — and they're rewarded for it". wfaa.com. 2021-02-28. Retrieved 2024-03-19.
  15. ^ a b "America's top banking regulator: WFAA's 'Banking Below 30' investigation documenting unfair treatment of minorities 'very troubling'". wfaa.com. 2021-07-15. Retrieved 2024-03-19.
  16. ^ "How David Schechter sees the future of local climate coverage - Storybench". 2021-08-13. Retrieved 2024-03-18.
  17. ^ McCarter, Rebecca (2020-03-03). "The Winners Of The 67th Scripps Howard Awards Announced". Scripps. Retrieved 2024-03-18.
  18. ^ a b "2021 Winners". duPont-Columbia Awards. Retrieved 2024-03-18.
  19. ^ a b "WFAA wins duPont-Columbia Award, broadcast equivalent of Pulitzer Prize, for reporting on climate change". wfaa.com. 2021-02-09. Retrieved 2024-03-18.
  20. ^ "David Schechter Leaving WFAA After 16 Years". www.adweek.com. 2022-07-26. Retrieved 2024-03-18.
  21. ^ "Paramount Press Express | CBS STATIONS ANNOUNCES PLANS TO CREATE LOCAL NEWS INNOVATION LAB". www.paramountpressexpress.com. 2022-01-11. Retrieved 2024-03-18.
  22. ^ "CBS Local News Innovation Lab Adds Six Including Consumer and Environmental Correspondents". www.adweek.com. 2022-07-26. Retrieved 2024-03-18.
  23. ^ Miller, Mark (2023-01-10). "CBS Stations Debuts Climate Change Series 'On The Dot With David Schechter'". TV News Check. Retrieved 2024-03-19.
  24. ^ "Eye on America - Full Episodes". www.cbsnews.com. Retrieved 2024-10-29.
  25. ^ "Why several U.S. cities are seeing record-high October temps - CBS News". www.cbsnews.com. Retrieved 2024-10-29.
  26. ^ Miller, Mark (2023-01-10). "CBS Stations Debuts Climate Change Series 'On The Dot With David Schechter'". TV News Check. Retrieved 2024-03-18.
  27. ^ "CBS News: An Arizona scientist documents climate related extinction of mountainous lizard | College of Science". science.arizona.edu. 2024-04-17. Retrieved 2024-09-19.
  28. ^ "Paramount Press Express | CBS NEWS AND STATIONS PREMIERES "WARMING SIGNS," A WEEK-LONG CLIMATE DOCUSERIES THAT JOURNEYS TO THE FASTEST-WARMING COMMUNITY ON EARTH, TODAY DEC 4-8, WITH AN HOUR-LONG SPECIAL TO AIR THE WEEKEND OF DEC. 9". www.paramountpressexpress.com. 2023-12-04. Retrieved 2024-03-18.
  29. ^ "David Schechter - CBS News". www.cbsnews.com. 2023-09-19. Retrieved 2024-03-19.
  30. ^ Schueneman, Thomas (2024-07-13). "Climate Reporting: CBS Journalist Spearheads Initiative for Local Meteorologists". Global Warming is Real. Retrieved 2024-07-18.
  31. ^ Watch CBS Mornings: World summit on climate change fight starts - Full show on CBS. Retrieved 2024-11-19 – via www.cbs.com.
  32. ^ Schechter, David (2023-12-13). "I'm a reporter and I know why talking about climate change makes local TV news nervous". Poynter. Retrieved 2024-03-18.
  33. ^ Schechter, David. "How a Texas TV reporter gained the confidence to cover climate change". Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved 2024-03-18.
  34. ^ Mitchell, Bill (2004-01-27). "Poynter Ethics Fellows Class of 2002". Poynter. Retrieved 2024-03-19.
  35. ^ murrow.rtdna.org https://murrow.rtdna.org/award-winners.php. Retrieved 2024-03-18. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  36. ^ "WFAA's Verify team nominated for James Beard award". wfaa.com. 2018-03-14. Retrieved 2024-03-18.
  37. ^ "The 2018 James Beard Award Nominees | James Beard Foundation". www.jamesbeard.org. Retrieved 2024-03-18.
  38. ^ Foundation, Scripps Howard. "Scripps Howard Foundation Announces National Journalism Awards Winners". www.prnewswire.com (Press release). Retrieved 2024-03-18.
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