Dunbar native wins Emmy award
Early on in the 2004 presidential election campaign, experts considered Ohio to be a key state. “People said the way Ohio goes, the election goes,’ noted Colleen Marshall, a Dunbar native who co-anchors the weekday evening news at WCMH-TV (NBC 4) in Columbus, Ohio.
Keeping this in mind, Marshall worked with her station to create a weekly news segment on election issues called “Fight For Ohio,’ which began in July 2004 and ran through election night.
In addition to keeping voters informed, “Fight for Ohio’ won Marshall a regional Emmy award from the Ohio Valley Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for “Interview/Discussion Program.’
Altogether, more than 300 finalists competed for awards for the chapter, which covers parts of Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and West Virginia. The awards were distributed in July at the Brown Theatre in Louisville, Ky.
Marshall, who attended the ceremony with her daughter, Shannon, said of her win: “With something political, I wasn’t sure how it would go over with the judges. I really was surprised and didn’t know what to say.’
But the importance of this election was apparent, as Ohio became the swing vote with a nation waiting to hear the outcome that would decide whether President George W. Bush, the Republican candidate, remained in office or was ousted by Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, the Democratic candidate. Marshall understood this early in the season and wanted to provide information to meet her viewers’ needs.
“We made a concentrated effort to get to the meat of the issues for the voters,’ she said. “We wanted to show what was important in their lives.’
The daughter of Betty and the late Jack Connors of Dunbar, Marshall has been working at WCMH-TV, an NBC affiliate, since 1984. She is a 1974 graduate of Connellsville Area high School and a 1978 graduate of Point Park College in Pittsburgh where she earned a degree in journalism and communications.
In 2004, Marshall earned a law degree from Capital University in Columbus. She works as an attorney three days a week at the law firm of Porter Wright Morris and Arthur and then five nights a week as newscaster at WCMH.
“I’m a part-time attorney and full-time newscaster. I’m a glutton for punishment,’ she laughed.
Marshall has been married since 1979 to her husband, Gary, who is also a graduate of Point Park. After working in broadcasting for several years as a camera operator – in fact, Marshall followed her husband to WCMH – he started his own successful business as a remodeling contractor.
“This had been an interest of his, and he turned a hobby into a pretty good business,’ Marshall said.
The couple has two children, Garrett, 19, who is a freshman at Ohio State University studying psychology and Shannon, 17, a senior at Hilliard-Davidson High School.
Prior to coming to WCMH, Marshall worked at KQV-Radio in Pittsburgh, WEIR-Radio in Weirton, W.Va., and WWVA-Radio in Wheeling before her first on-camera assignment at WTFR-TV in Wheeling.
Marshall has received many honors, including a 1999 Emmy for a special report on Ellis Island, winning for individual achievement for historical reporting.
“Fight For Ohio’ featured two experts: Brian Hicks, former chief of staff for Governor Bob Taft, on the Republican side, and Kent Markus, former chairman of the Democratic National Committee who worked in the Clinton Administration under Attorney General Janet Reno. In addition, the news station involved its viewers by having them e-mail questions to ask the viewers each week.
Marshall also involved her son’s advanced placement history class, which included many students who were 18 years old and able to vote. They were able to grill the experts on the issues.
The experts were interviewed on the issues weekly and did live in-studio analysis on election night.
“I was very pleased with it,’ said Marshall. “I like politics. I wasn’t sure how it would go over – if people were concerned about politics, but I think they were.’
She added, “I was pleased with the way the audience received the program. We would get qreat questions from people through e-mail. I think people liked the opportunity not to listen to what news anchors think is important but what was important in their lives.’
Marshall said that polls in the last week indicated President Bush would take Ohio but the race continued until the end. Ohio also dealt with controversies that continued after the election, including people waiting up to four hours to vote and voting machines that went down.
“This was my son’s first election and what a great introduction to see that votes really do matter,’ Marshall noted.
“Fight For Ohio’ showed how well television can report the news.
Marshall commented, “In some ways, television is good at this. But in some ways, television is not good. The problem is too often news programs have an agenda. I’m old school and think that news reporters’ opinions should never come into play. I think people need to hear all sides and that’s what we tried to do. … We strive for a fair and balanced presentation and let the people make up their minds.’