Ross Becker

Ross Becker is a television journalist and news anchor. He is currently employed as an anchor/reporter at KTVX-TV ABC4 in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Becker began his career in broadcasting in 1975 as a reporter at WRFV-TV in Green Bay, Wisconsin, before moving in 1977 to WTHR-TV in Indianapolis as a weekend anchor and field reporter. He then moved to KCBS-TV in Los Angeles in 1980 as a reporter, eventually becoming head of the Investigative Team and weekend anchor. He received 3 Emmys for coverage of the Cerritos plane crash, Southern California windstorms and coverage of the 1986 San Fernando earthquake. He also received 6 Golden Mike Awards and the AP Mark Twain Award for news writing. During his tenure at KCBS, he also served two years as President of the Radio/TV News Association of Southern California. In 1990, Becker moved on to KCOP-TV to anchor the station's only newscast. At KCOP he received an Emmy Award for coverage of the Reginald Oliver Denny beating.

In 1995, Becker quit KCOP, complaining about "sold-out, disgusting, tabloid" journalism in Los Angeles. [Weinstein, Steve. "He's Had Enough of `Sold-Out' TV News." "Los Angeles Times", Aug. 3, 1995. Page 1.] In January of 1996 Becker was hired as a freelance journalist and conducted a 90 minute interview with O.J. Simpson. It was the first interview with Simpson following his acquittal on murder charges. The interview was controversial at the time because it was distributed as a videotape for sale instead of airing on "free" television or cable. During the interview Becker agreed not to ask about Simpson's children, finances, or the then-pending civil lawsuit. This restriction was clearly stated before the interview began. [ [http://www.h-net.org/mmreviews/showrev.cgi?path=119 H-Net Multimedia Reviews: Drew Philip Halevy on The O.J. Simpson Interview Videotape ] ] In the video, Simpson blamed people "in Faye Resnick's circle" for the murder and accused Mark Fuhrman of planting evidence related to Simpson's guilt. Many television stations and the "National Enquirer", which printed many details about the trial, refused to carry advertising for the video.

After conducting the interview, Becker decided to take a break from big city television news. Becker and his wife, Linda, purchased WIEL, WKMO-FM, and WRZI-FM in Elizabethtown, Kentucky in 1997. He sold the stations to Commonwealth Broadcasting in 2000 and jumped back into the broadcast news business when he accepted a position as weekend anchor on MSNBC in 2002. Later that year, he returned to local news when he joined KTNV-TV in Las Vegas as its evening anchor. Becker left KTNV in December 2004 to "pursue other opportunities". He returned to Los Angeles in 2005 as a freelance reporter for KNBC before being hired full time. He left KNBC at the end of 2006 to join KTVX (ABC4) in Salt Lake City, Utah, as an evening anchor. [http://www.sltrib.com/columnists/ci_5041225]

Becker also has a mentoring website, www.tvnewsmentor.com. He services various clients, helping them prepare and improve their skills in broadcast journalism.

References

External links

* [http://www.tvnewsmentor.com Ross Becker's web site]
* [http://www.abc4.com/content/about/bios/story.aspx?content_id=1907319e-4cf2-4841-bd1e-9b2bda7ea71a Ross Becker's KTVX biography]