Hearst Television Launches DC-Based Investigative Unit

Hearst Television Inc. is expanding on its award-winning local and regional investigative reporting with the addition of a national investigative unit at the station group's Washington, D.C., bureau. The bureau, established more than two decades ago, provides political and other national-news reporting to the Hearst Television stations throughout 26 TV markets across the United States.

Leading the new investigative unit will be Mark Albert, a veteran of local and national television- and digital-news investigative and political reporting who recently served for three years as a freelance on-air and multiplatform correspondent for CBS News. As Hearst Television's Chief National Investigative Correspondent, he will work on long-form investigative reports and will produce day-of investigative insights to breaking news stories working in collaboration with the broadcast- and digital-news teams at the Hearst D.C. bureau and the stations.

Joining Albert at the Bureau, assisting in investigative and political-news coverage, is Matt Prichard, who has served as a multimedia journalist and anchor at major TV stations in Albany, Georgia, and Colorado Springs.

Albert and Prichard start at the bureau June 19.

"Our primary focus has been and will continue to be localism but increasingly, in this connected world, our viewers look to their trusted news sources to provide national context. Our efforts in Washington will be designed to provide added resonance to the journalism in our local markets," said Jordan Wertlieb, president of Hearst Television. "This latest step represents a firm commitment to coordinate and augment at the national level the award-winning investigative efforts our stations have been undertaking for decades at the local and regional levels."

"This represents an effort to continue our critical daily coverage out of Washington while putting even more effort into uncovering stories behind those headlines - and the big stories happening in our local markets that may have national implications," said Barbara Maushard, Hearst Television senior vice president, news. "Mark Albert is a top-notch, deeply experienced investigative journalist, and he and Matt an impressively multi-talented young reporter - will be valuable additions to our team in D.C. And we have a rich and deep bench of award-winning investigative reporting talent throughout our station group ready to collaborate on big stories."

"Investigative journalism today isn't just about uncovering the truth and holding the powerful to account," Albert said. "It's also about telling our deeply researched reporting in an engaging, multi-platform way that empowers our viewers, listeners, and readers to fully understand a story's meaning, context, and impact."

On behalf of CBS News, Albert broke stories across the country, covering national and international news for all CBS News platforms - reporting from the White House, the Capitol, and the Supreme Court among other locales and breaking numerous stories, including the first interview with the Dakota Access Pipeline's CEO in Dallas.

Albert's extensive reporting career has taken him to leading television stations including Washington's WUSA-TV as well as Minneapolis's KSTP-TV, where over an eight-year period he traveled extensively to cover major regional, national and global stories including the Milwaukee Sikh Temple Shootings; the Virginia Tech massacre; the Upper Midwest floods; John McCain's 2008 pick of Sarah Palin, announced in Dayton, Ohio; and, more recently, on assignment, he conducted one of only two on-camera interviews Sen. Al Franken gave after misconduct allegations against him became public. He also reported for KSTP on various overseas assignments in Iraq, Kuwait, Pakistan and Kenya. Earlier he served at leading stations in the Grand Rapids-Kalamazoo, Michigan, and Chico-Redding, California, markets.

Albert also served as a Broadcast Journalism Instructor for the International Center for Journalists, teaching journalism overseas, and earned a Paul Miller Washington Reporting Fellowship from the National Press Foundation. He began his varied TV journalism career with internships at CNBC and KNBC-TV, both in Los Angeles. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Broadcast Journalism, with a Minor in Political Science, from the University of Southern California.

While at KSTP Albert earned a Peabody Award for an investigative series impacting the way the U.S. military tracks the remains of service members; he also has earned multiple National Headliner Awards, National Press Foundation honors, and Edward R. Murrow Awards, as well as a dozen EMMYs - three for political reporting. He also received a Premack Award for Excellence in Public Affairs Reporting for a year-long series on "Welfare Waste," and was honored by the Michigan Bar Association with its "Excellence in Legal Journalism and the Advancement of Justice" Award.

About Hearst Television
Hearst Television owns and operates television and radio stations serving 26 media markets across 39 states reaching over 21 million U.S. television households. Through its partnership with nearly all of the major networks, Hearst Television distributes national content over nearly 70 video channels including programming from ABC, NBC, CBS, CW, MY Net, MeTV, This TV, Estrella and more. The radio stations are leaders in Baltimore news/talk and rock music listenership. Hearst Television is recognized as one of the industry's premier companies, and has been honored with numerous awards for distinguished journalism, industry innovation, and community service. Hearst Television is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hearst. The Company's Web address is www.hearsttelevision.com.

SOURCE Hearst Television