CBS Stations has hired David Schechter as national environmental correspondent and Ash-har Quraishi as national consumer correspondent. Both will be based at the CBS Local News Innovation Lab in Fort Worth.
Schechter and Quraishi will report to Chad Cross, VP of content development for the station group, and will be responsible for national-scale stories and longform reporting that will air on CBS-owned stations across the country and on the group’s local news streaming channels. Their reports will also be made available to CBS affiliates via CBS Newspath.
Cross also announced the hiring of four additional members of the Innovation Lab team: Schechter’s longtime colleague Chance Horner has been named senior photographer, editor and producer; Amy Corral and Haley Rush have been appointed investigative producers; and Jose Sanchez has been named investigative photographer, editor and producer.
CBS Stations announced the Innovation Lab in January.
Schechter, Horner, Rush and Sanchez will be based in Fort Worth. Quraishi is in Chicago and Corral is in Los Angeles. The Lab looks “to experiment with next-generation storytelling and test new products, workflows and production models for the future,” according to CBS Stations.
“We are thrilled to continue building up our CBS Local News Innovation Lab team roster with this esteemed group of investigative journalists,” Cross said. “David, Ash-har, Chance, Amy, Haley and Jose are all among the best of the best in their respective areas of expertise. We look forward to having them support the lab’s mission to produce data-driven, insightful reports for our CBS Stations group as well as all of our network affiliate partners.”
Schechter spent seven years as an investigative reporter for WCCO Minneapolis-St. Paul, from 1999-2006. He has spent the past 16 years with WFAA Dallas-Fort Worth, where he was a senior reporter as well as the host and co-producer (with Horner) of Verify Road Trip.
Horner has spent the last nine years at WFAA and most recently was the station’s director of photography.
Quraishi was a national correspondent for the E.W. Scripps Company. Previously, he was a news reporter and fill-in anchor at WMAQ Chicago.
Corral was executive producer of the investigative team at KNBC Los Angeles. Rush has spent the past five years at KPTV Portland, as an investigative reporter and then producer. Sanchez was part of the investigative team at KXAS Dallas-Fort Worth. ■
