WTTW announced today that Joanna Hernandez has joined the organization as an on-air reporter for WTTW’s flagship news and public affairs program “Chicago Tonight” effective July 6.
Hernandez will produce and appear in general assignment news and feature stories, provide live reports from both the studio and the field, and report on the many diverse communities and neighborhoods in the Chicago region for WTTW News. Her work will also appear on WTTW’s Saturday evening program “Latino Voices,” and she will write and produce regular content for wttw.com/news. Hernandez will report to “Chicago Tonight’s” senior supervising producer Jay Smith, and support the organization’s purpose to enrich lives, engage communities and inspire exploration.
“Joanna is a talented and hands-on reporter with experience covering local communities in real time,” said Sandra Cordova Micek, president and CEO of WTTW. “We are looking forward to including her perspective and ideas as WTTW News brings trusted journalism, fact-based news and authentic engagement that is inclusive and reflective of the diverse voices in our region to our community.”
“I’m honored and excited to return to Chicago to work with the top-flight WTTW News journalists,” Hernandez said. “I am eager to venture into Chicago’s diverse neighborhoods to provide insightful and accurate coverage of current events to inform and engage the public, and create opportunities for real conversation and a platform for different voices and perspectives.”
Hernandez, a Chicago native and alumnus of Chicago’s Columbia College, most recently served as a multilingual morning reporter and assignment editor for News 12 Bronx and Brooklyn, New York where she shot, wrote and edited local news stories; delivered hourly on-air live reports; and created content for the station’s Latino audience. Prior to that, Hernandez was assignment editor for WXTV Univision in New Jersey, where she identified and gathered facts for breaking news stories and coordinated daily news gathering efforts for all the station’s newscasts.
WTTW is the PBS member station in Chicago, committed to producing and presenting unique media content across distinct television and digital channels – WTTW, WTTW Prime, WTTW Create, WTTW World, WTTW PBS Kids 24/7, wttw.com and the PBS/WTTW video app. Recognized for award-winning journalism and local productions such as “Chicago Tonight,” “Chicago Stories,” “Check, Please!”, “Chicago by ‘L’,” digital-first series “FIRSTHAND” and “Urban Nature” – and national productions “10 That Changed America” and “Nature Cat” – WTTW presents the very best in public affairs, arts and culture, nature and science, history, documentary and children’s public media content.
