Changes Coming For ABC News Correspondents

By Chris Ariens 

ABC News is shifting several bureau correspondents to new cities.

Miguel Marquez moves from Los Angeles to the London bureau; Mike Von Fremd moves from Dallas to Los Angeles and Ryan Owens moves from New York to Dallas.

Marquez joined ABC news in May 2005, but has spent much of his time reporting overseas in Iraq. From LA, Marquez covered everything from the entertainment industry to the seemingly-endless California wildfires. For 30-year ABC News veteran Mike Von Fremd, the move to Los Angeles is the next stop after assignments in cities including Chicago, Washington (Congress & The White House), and Dallas. Von Fremd was part of the team that received the Edward R. Murrow award for the “World News Tonight with Peter Jennings'” broadcast the day President Clinton was impeached.

Advertisement

Relative newcomer Ryan Owens takes Von Fremd’s spot in Dallas. Owens has been a New York-based correspondent since March, before that, he was co-anchor of “World News Now” and “America This Morning.”

Today’s press release is after the jump…


October 20, 2008

ABC ANNOUNCES NEW ASSIGNMENTS IN DALLAS, LOS ANGELES AND LONDON
Miguel Marquez Named a London Correspondent; Ryan Owens Named Dallas Correspondent and Mike Von Fremd Joins Los Angeles Bureau

Miguel Marquez has been named a London correspondent; Ryan Owens has been named ABC News’ Dallas Correspondent and Mike von Fremd is relocating to Los Angeles from Dallas, ABC News President David Westin announced today. All three assignments take effect immediately.

“The strength of our broadcasts and platforms is in large part due to our strong correspondent corps,” said Mr. Westin. “Miguel, Ryan and Mike are enterprising reporters and outstanding broadcasters. Their new assignments will enhance their respective bureaus and our coverage will benefit from their superb storytelling.

Miguel Marquez has been a correspondent in the network’s Los Angeles bureau. Since joining ABC News in May 2005, Marquez has reported extensively on the Iraq War. He reported from Fallujah and Ramadi in Anbar province, as well as Baghdad and Diyala province and the changing role of the U.S. military in the country. In April 2008, Marquez and his colleagues were among few in the western media to gain access to the ruins of the al-Askari Mosque in Samarra, Iraq. The bombing of the mosque in 2006 led to an enormous rise in sectarian violence across Iraq. Marquez was nominated for an Emmy Award for his part in reporting that al Qaeda terrorist Abu Musab Al Zarqawi had been killed.

From Los Angeles, Marquez covered everything from the entertainment industry to the massive wildfires that rage throughout California year round. He also covered the heated debate over immigration, the problem of homelessness in downtown Los Angeles, and has filed reports on everything from new technologies to video games to alternative fuels.

Before joining ABC News, Marquez was a Los Angeles-based correspondent for CNN, a role he’d held since March 2003. There he covered California wildfires, mudslides and the gubernatorial race between Arnold Schwarzenegger and then-Governor Gray Davis. From 1999-2002 he reported for KSAZ-TV, the Fox affiliate in Phoenix, and from 1998-1999 he covered daily events in New York City as a general assignment reporter for WNBC-TV. Marquez also spent several years in Washington, DC as a legislative aide to then-United States Representative Bill Richardson and as a researcher for the Congressional Research Service.

Marquez has an associate’s degree from the New Mexico Military Institute in Roswell, New Mexico, a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of New Mexico and a master’s degree in international affairs from Columbia University.

Ryan Owens has been an ABC News correspondent based in New York. His recent work includes covering the devastating floods in the Midwest, the wildfires in San Diego County and the Utah mine collapse. Owens has also reported from Iraq, where he covered the American and Iraqi crackdown in Sadr City.

Prior to that, Owens was co-anchor of “World News Now” and “America This Morning,” the network’s early morning news programs.

Owens joined ABC News in August 2006 as an anchor and correspondent for ABC News NOW, the network’s 24-hour digital news and information channel. Prior to joining the network, he was a reporter for WHDH-TV, the NBC affiliate in Boston, for which he traveled extensively. At the start of the Iraq war, he reported from the Persian Gulf. He covered the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, the Michael Jackson trial in Santa Maria, CA, the funeral of President Reagan in Simi Valley, CA and the Scott Peterson trial in Redwood City , CA. From 1998-2001 Owens was a reporter for WLWT-TV, the NBC affiliate in Cincinnati, OH. Before that he reported in the Chattanooga, TN and Evansville, IN markets.

Owens was part of the ABC News team recognized with an Emmy Award for coverage of the 2007 San Diego wildfires. He has also received a regional Emmy Award and Associated Press Awards for coverage of special events and spot news reporting. He is a graduate of Northwestern University.

Mike Von Fremd was, until this new assignment, based in the Network’s Dallas bureau. His recent assignments have included covering the Iraq war from Baghdad and Hurricane Katrina from New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast. He also reported on the collapse of Enron and the trial of Andrea Yates, who was convicted of drowning her five children.

Mr. Von Fremd was part of the ABC News team recognized with two Emmy awards for coverage of the 2007 California wildfires. He was also part of the team that received an Emmy award for “World News Tonight Saturday’s” broadcast the day Elian Gonzalez was taken from his Miami relatives and returned to his father, and was part of the team that received the Edward R. Murrow award for the “World News Tonight with Peter Jennings’” broadcast the day President Clinton was impeached.

During his career, Mr. Von Fremd has covered the crisis in Haiti, operation Desert Storm in Saudi Arabia and Iraq, and the fall of the “Iron Curtain” in East Berlin. He covered the tragedy in Union, South Carolina when Susan Smith drowned her two young sons, the rescue of Jessica McClure from a well in Midland, Texas, and the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska.

In 1981 Mr. Von Fremd was assigned to the White House, where he reported on the first term of President Ronald Reagan. From 1980 to 1981, Mr. Von Fremd was ABC News’ Senate correspondent. Prior to his Congressional assignment, Mr. Von Fremd was a general assignment reporter for ABC in Washington and Chicago.

Before serving as a correspondent for ABC News, Mr. Von Fremd was a Washington producer for the Network’s evening news for a year and a half. He produced an 11-part “Special Assignment” series, “Second to None,” with Ted Koppel in April 1979, which won the duPont-Columbia award. Mr. Von Fremd came to ABC after spending eight years at CBS News’ Washington bureau. From 1976 to 1978 he was a producer for the “CBS Morning News” and the weekend news, and was an assistant director for CBS Sports.

Von Fremd graduated from the University of Maryland with a BA in history in 1974. He is a native of Washington, D.C.

Advertisement