Schwartz’s vision for broadcast news gains momentum

His former professors at NMSU say Gadi Schwartz ’06 is the kind of person journalism needs right now. “The Overview,” which he anchors on the Peacock network, is reframing broadcast news.

“Our story selection is looking toward the future,” Schwartz says. “For me, it’s looking at the past, present and future all in one story. You need context and perspective. It allows you to have a better overview.”

In addition to hosting “The Overview,” Schwartz is a correspondent for NBC News and MSNBC. He’s covered stories including the 2020 election, immigration issues along the U.S.-Mexico border, the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio and the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea, as well as hurricanes and natural disasters across the country. Schwartz also was sent to cover the Aug. 3, 2019 mass shooting in El Paso.

He grew up in Albuquerque where his father was a weather anchorman. However, Schwartz enrolled at NMSU as a government/Latin American studies major. He was channel-surfing when he stumbled on News 22, the campus newscast. Schwartz approached journalism professors Gary Worth and Hugo Perez and volunteered to do the weather for News 22. He soon became a journalism major.

“Gary taught me how to write, Hugo taught me how to shoot,” Schwartz says. “They had more to do with my career than anyone else on the planet.”

Perez and Worth saw Schwartz’s compassion in 2005 when people were crossing into the U.S. from Mexico through a tiny village west of Palomas, and then-New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson sent the national guard to stop them.

“Gadi said ‘We’ve got to do this story!’ and somehow he convinced us to let him do the story,” says Perez. “We drove down to the border in the old Suburban. When we got there, he shot it and he did the interviews.”

“Gadi had a strong sense of social justice,” Worth says.

Schwartz has always been attracted to what’s next. He is committed to the 360-degree type of coverage he provides in “The Overview,” which he says has a broad appeal.

“NBC is willing to engage all walks of life from all parts of the country,” Schwartz says.

Worth says, “I don’t know if the world is ready for what he’s trying to do, but I think Gadi is going to make changes in the future of broadcasting.”