Kurtis Ming

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Eight-time Emmy award winner Kurtis Ming is CBS13′s consumer investigative reporter. Since joining the team in 2003, he’s held the position of general assignment reporter and weekend anchor before starting up the “Call Kurtis” consumer advocacy program in 2006, which has helped viewers get back millions of dollars and resolve thousands of disputes.

Since arriving in Sacramento, he’s covered everything from the gubernatorial campaign of a porn star to the Scott Peterson murder trial. He’s reported on natural disasters from an assignment in the Gulf Coast following Hurricane Katrina to trips to the shores of Phuket, Thailand and Samoa tracking progress following the tsunamis that affected each of those countries.

During his international travels in September 2010, Kurtis experienced a major earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand and found himself reporting for a national audience back home.  He’s also reported on terrorism from Pakistan and brought us a story from the last front of the Cold War; the DMZ, which divides North and South Korea.

Kurtis is a 22-time regional Emmy nominee and eight-time winner. He was awarded three trophies in 2012 including one for his team’s nationwide investigation into Walmart’s gift receipt practices that sparked reaction on Capitol Hill.  The investigation is also the recipient of The National Press Club’s 2012 Consumer Journalism Award.   He was also awarded an Emmy for his story that helped a woman end her decades-long journey to find her father.   His investigations into psychic detectives, an unscrupulous tire shop and mobile mechanic were also honored.

His Emmy award winning investigation exposing the California Medical Board’s problem-plagued doctor’s drug and alcohol diversion program, resulted in the board getting rid of it.    Another Emmy Award winning investigation prompted the DMV to overhaul its database after he uncovered a flaw that caused Californians to wrongfully get ticketed.   He was awarded an Emmy for outstanding achievement in an educational segment for his reporting on the hidden dangers of paintball after the deaths of a local mother and a teen from Washington. His feature reporting garnered an Emmy Award for a story about a tiny town in Kansas giving away free land to lure new residents.

The South San Francisco native started his broadcast career in 1996 as a radio reporter and anchor at WERS-FM in Boston.  He founded Emerson College’s student-run television station WEBN and worked behind the scenes for Dateline NBC, Los Angeles TV station KCOP, and KGO-TV in San Francisco before landing his first on-air TV job at KRCR-TV in Redding in 1999. He anchored, reported and forecasted the weather there for nearly three years before working as a reporter and anchor for CBS station KTVN in Reno.

Kurtis was selected as an East West Center fellow in 2013, traveling with a delegation of American journalists to Pakistan.  In 2011, Kurtis graduated from the FBI’s Citizens’ Academy. He is a member of the Investigative Reporters and Editors.

Kurtis has a degree in broadcast journalism from Emerson College in Boston. When he’s not covering the news, he enjoys traveling and mentoring young aspiring journalists.

Getting Answers with Kurtis Ming

1) How long have you lived in Northern California?  32 Years (all my life minus college and a job in Reno)

2) Where are you from originally?  South San Francisco

3) Do you have any siblings?  Yes.  One.

5) iPhone or Android?  Currently, Android

6) What’s your favorite thing about working in news?  Serving as the voice of the viewer.  Asking the tough questions people at home want answered.

7) What’s your favorite past time?  Traveling

8)  What’s the one place you’d like to visit that you’ve never been to before?  Trying to get to every continent, so it’s tough to narrow it down.   Antarctica, Africa and South America are still on the list.

9) What’s your favorite place you’ve ever visited?  Thailand

10) Where’s the strangest/farthest place you’ve been recognized?  The Azores.  A small island in Portugal.

11) At what age did you decide you were interested in news?  11, after the Loma Prieta Earthquake