Marion Brooks
Anchor/Reporter
Updated 11:35 PM CST, Tue, Jul 28, 2009
Marion Brooks is the anchor of the NBC5 News at 4:30 p.m. each weekday. She also reports for the 10 p.m. newscast and is a regular contributor to WVON's Cliff Kelly Show.
Brooks joined NBC5 in 1998 as a weekend anchor from Atlanta, Ga., where she also served as an anchor/reporter. Her career has spanned over several regions and market sizes in the country. Beginning at the Sarasota Herald Tribune in Sarasota, Fla., Brooks learned the advertising side of journalism in a management training program for the New York Times Newspaper Group.
Her first job in broadcasting was in radio at WGST, a news talk station in Atlanta, in the entry level type of job that exposed her to the long hours, hard work, and adrenaline rushes of newsgathering. She credits this experience with solidifying her desire to work as a journalist.
Her first television job took her to one of the poorest regions in the country, the Mississippi Delta. From there her career wound through markets around the country with stops in Jacksonville, Fla., St. Louis, Mo., Atlanta, Ga., and Chicago.
She's covered everything from major natural disasters to politics, crime and courts to health, consumer issues to two Olympic games, and much in between.
As an anchor, she's as comfortable anchoring from the field as from the set and has been at the helm during breaking news coverage for several hours, both with a co-anchor and on her own.
Community outreach is a principle part of her work at NBC5 and Brooks has emceed some of the most important events in Chicago. They include functions for the Urban League of Chicago, Rainbow PUSH, N'Digo Magapaper, Black Creativity, Midtown Educational Foundation, The American Heart Association and the Make A Wish Foundation, to name a few.
Brooks has a bachelor of arts degree in English from Spelman College and is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists.
She is a native of Vancouver, British Columbia, and was raised in Portland, Ore. Brooks has two beautiful daughters, Brooks and Sydney.
Brooks' honors include awards from:
- Chicago Emmy, 2006
- IBA Silver Dome Award, 2006
- National Vernon Jarrett Award, 2005 - Institute of Advanced Journalism Studies, North Carolina A&T State University
- Chicago Emmy 2005, Documentary
- Chicago Emmy 2004, Best Anchor
- Chicago Emmy 2003
- 2 Chicago Midwest Emmys, 2002
- Regional Edward R. Murrow Award, 2001
- National Mental Health Association, 2001
- Illinois Mental Health Association, 2000
- Chicago Association of Black Journalists, 2000
- Associated Press, 2nd Place Investigative Reporting, 1996
- Emmy Nominations 1994, 1995, and each year 1998 through 2007
Drop Marion a line: marion.brooks@nbc.com.
First Published: Oct 1, 2008 9:37 AM CST
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