Mark Saxenmeyer

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Fox Chicago Special Reports

Since joining FOX News Chicago in January 1994, Mark Saxenmeyer has received some of broadcasting's highest honors, including a national Emmy and a national Edward R. Murrow award. He currently serves as the station's special projects reporter, focusing on in-depth newsmagazine-style feature and investigative segments. To watch his most recent reports, click on the "Special Reports" link above.

In addition to his national honors, Mark's reports have also been honored with 11 regional first place Peter Lisagor awards from the Chicago Headline Club/Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), 13 regional first place Associated Press (AP) awards, 3 regional Edward R. Murrow awards from the Radio-Television News Directors Association (RTNDA), and 27 regional Emmy awards from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS).

Aside from his duties at FOX, Mark has founded an independent and not-for-profit documentary company called The Reporters Inc. which specializes in subjects and issues that are either overlooked or ignored by the mainstream media. His documentaries exploring race relations and human sexuality, "The Experiment in Black and White" and "Experiment: Gay and Straight" were lauded by both critics and audiences alike; the latter was accepted for showings at nearly two dozen global film festivals in 2003 and garnered several jury prizes. He's currently working on a historical documentary that chronicles life in South Africa as it slowly changes in the post-apartheid era. He began filming it in 2004 and hopes to complete it by 2010.

Before moving to Chicago, Mark was a general assignment reporter at KOVR-TV (the then-ABC affiliate) in Sacramento, California for four years. He began his career interning at WFSB-TV (CBS) in Hartford, Connecticut and WISC-TV (CBS) in Madison, Wisconsin. Also in Madison, he was a broadcast journalism major, graduating in 1989 with a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Wisconsin. In May 2004, the UW honored Mark with the Young Alumni Award, recognizing "notable career achievement and service" under the age of 40.

Loyola University in Chicago presented Mark with its annual Leadership in Journalism Education award in April 2009 for mentoring dozens of its students in his ongoing internship program at FOX Chicago. Mark is always looking for new interns to assist him in FOX Chicago's special projects department. Information about the program, as well as testimonials from former interns can also be found on the "special reports" page (click link above).

Mark was born near Asbury Park, New Jersey; growing up, he lived in Des Plaines, Illinois, the Minneapolis, Minnesota area, and in Spain and Paraguay as a foreign exchange student. He was named one of Minnesota Public High Schools' outstanding alumni (Lake Conference Arts and Activities Award) in 1997. In 2007, he was inducted as a charter member of his high school's newly-created alumni hall of fame (Thomas Jefferson Senior High School in Bloomington, Minnesota).

Mark resides in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood with his partner, Adam. He enjoys reality TV (including "American Idol," "So You Think You Can Dance," and "Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List"), comedies on TV (including "30 Rock", "Modern Family" and "The New Adventures of Old Christine"), dramas on TV (including "The Mentalist," "Lost", and "The Good Wife"), talk shows on TV (including "Ellen", "Letterman," and "Chelsea Lately"), pretty much everything on HGTV, and of course, NEWS on TV ("60 Minutes," "48 Hours", and FOX Chicago News at 9!). If not glued in front of the TV, he's also a big fan of Chicago's vast array of incredible restaurants, tennis, photography, and traveling the globe.

For more personal stuff, photos, etc., Mark would love for viewers to follow him on Facebook (and he'll follow you, too!). Click on the link above to become his friend!