By Rosbelis Quinonez
The perks and struggles of a national correspondent
Gabe Gutierrez does not stop. In a typical day, he wakes up in New York to be on NBC’s “TODAY” in the morning and then rushes to a plane to Austin, Texas in pursuing to his next story—all of this while he is preparing his next investigativepiece.
The NBC National Correspondent travels an average of 300 days a year.
“It’s a crazy lifestyle,” he admitted. “The first couple of years were a struggle in terms of getting used to the travel, getting used to the demands of the job. But I kept working hard on it.”
Gutierrez has reported for “TODAY,” “NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt” and MSNBC since 2012. This passionate reporter has been on the scene of natural disasters, mass shootings, protests, elections and other events in the United States and abroad.
Recently, Gutierrez fulfilled a long-awaited desire to report from Venezuela. The South American country has been facing political turmoil, leading to a severe lack of medicine, food crises, blackouts and gas shortages.
“I had seen from afar the crisis in Venezuela for several years, and I sometimes felt that it hadn’t gotten enough attention in the U.S. as it should,” Gutierrez said. The journalist spent weeks in Caracas, the capital of Venezuela. “It was a very eye-opening experience because I expected it to be difficult to report.”
This year, the World Press Freedom Index placed Venezuela in the position 148 out of 180 for press freedom. The country fell five positions in contrast to the previous year. But Gutierrez–the son of Cuban immigrants– was prepared for the challenges he would face in Venezuela. He traveled to Havana multiple times to cover the U.S.’s renewal of diplomatic ties with Cuba in 2015.
“Logistically, it’s difficult to operate in Cuba in terms of access [to an Internet connection], and they’re very skeptical when it comes to outside media. Venezuela is the same way,” Gutierrez said. “It’s difficult to get any government official to talk to you.”
From Caracas, Gutierrez reported on the hospital crisis, national blackouts, the arrival of humanitarian aid to Venezuela and many other aspects of the situation in the country. Although Gutierrez’s team did not have access to President Nicolas Maduro or his administration officials, the NBC journalist talked with Maduro’s supporters and member of the country’s militia.
Gutierrez has also covered other fascinating events. He was among the first reporters on the scene at the Orlando shooting in 2016, the largest U.S. mass shooting at the time. He’s also covered the 2016 Republican primaries the same year. For NBC, Gutierrez went to Mexico to cover the recapture of the drug lord, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman and has reported on terrorist attacks in Paris and Brussels.
After his experiences in countries with such strong censorship, it is not odd that the award-winning journalist is not so concerned about the state of journalism in the United States. Gutierrez believes there is still a huge interest in journalism despite the accusations about fake news against the media.
“It does challenge us, journalists, to make sure that we get all our facts right and we double efforts to be as accurate and fair as possible in what we cover,” he said. “Regardless of the rhetoric being used, I think that journalists fulfill a vital role.”
That role of informing the public is both demanding and fascinating. Gutierrez knows that very well.
The rigor of his job has brought high costs to his health. In November of 2017, he struggled during a live shot for the NBC Nightly News. While in Alabama, he was reporting on Sen. Roy Moore’s campaign during the state’s special election and the accusations against the candidate for sexual misconduct. Before tossing back to Anchor Lester Holt, Gutierrez stumbled over his words.
“For several months I had been on the road and I was just kinda going nonstop,” Gutierrez said. “It was a simple memory flub but also a wake-up call to take care of myself. Getting sleep, making sure I work-out, making sure I take some time off to decompress.”
He said the episode came after a long period of covering hurricanes; Hurricane Harvey in Texas, Hurricane Irma in Florida and Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico. The suffering this storm caused struck Gutierrez.
“It was just a really desperate time and a very challenging story to cover,” the member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists said.
It is during the coverage of those issues that hit Latino communities when Gutierrez takes advantage of his Cuban heritage to boost his reporting. Several times he has covered the crisis at the Southern border, where thousands of migrants from Central American countries have come to ask for asylum.
“It’s not only that I speak Spanish, but also being of Cuban descent, knowing the Hispanic culture and just being able to get people to open up and talk to you by speaking in Spanish,” Gutierrez said. “It’s very helpful to have Latino journalists in network news.”
Bilingualism and biculturalism could be valuable assets for journalists while covering the upcoming presidential elections. Gutierrez emphasized that immigration will continue to be a major topic in 2020.
“There’s a raging debate over who’s to blame for the crisis at the border and nobody seems to know what to do down there,” he said. “It’s just really sad that there can’t be some sort of agreement on either immigration or on how to increase border security. It just seems now it’s just turned into this political football.”
Gutierrez graduated from Northwestern University with degrees from both the Medill School of Journalism and the political science department. He got his first job as a morning reporter for WBOY in Clarksburg, West Virginia. From where he worked his way up to NBC News. Gutierrez said the key to his success has been focusing on his writing.
“Editors will always need good writers,” he said.
Finally, Gutierrez had two pieces of advice for new journalists: Be fearless and persistent. Those two characteristics can get young reporters their next job or an interview with a very busy NBC national correspondent.
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