Renee Ferguson (August 22, 1949 – June 6, 2025) was an American news reporter and long-time journalist for WMAQ. She was the first African-American woman to work as an investigative reporter in Chicago. She won a

Nieman Fellowship The Nieman Fellowship is a fellowship from the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University. It awards multiple types of fellowships. Nieman Fellowships for journalists The Nieman Fellowship is an award given to journalists by the Nieman ...

at Harvard, and an Alfred I. duPont–Columbia Award.

Life and career

Ferguson was born on August 22, 1949 in

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Oklahoma, most populous city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat ...

, and graduated from the

Indiana University-Bloomington Indiana University Bloomington (IU Bloomington, Indiana University, IU, IUB, or Indiana) is a public research university in Bloomington, Indiana, United States. It is the flagship campus of Indiana University and its largest campus, with over 4 ...

in 1971. Throughout her career she worked with several networks, including

CBS News CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio broadcaster CBS. It is headquartered in New York City. CBS News television programs include ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs ''CBS News Sunday Morn ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, CBS2 in Chicago and NBC5. She co-founded the Chicago chapter of the

National Association of Black Journalists The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) is a 501(c)(3) organization, 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational and professional organization of African Americans, African American journalists, students, and media professionals. Founded in 197 ...

. During the 2020 Presidential election, she publicly endorsed

Pete Buttigieg Peter Paul Montgomery Buttigieg ( ; born January 19, 1982) is an American politician and former naval officer who served as the 19th United States Secretary of Transportation, United States secretary of transportation from 2021 to 2025. A me ...

and his campaign.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ferguson, Renee 1949 births 2025 deaths African-American women journalists 20th-century African-American women 21st-century African-American women Journalists from Oklahoma People from Oklahoma City