WPLG Local 10 News Reporter Ian Margol

Interview Date: May 27th, 2017

Pembroke Park, Fla.- Everyday, Reporters around the country go out on the streets and report the news. Ian Margol, a Reporter from WPLG, an ABC Affiliate in Miami is leading a a new frontier  by being the youngest reporter in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale market while working in his own backyard.

      In a sit down interview with Ian, he says his interest in Journalism started back at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. He originally wanted to study Criminal Psychology. That  all changed, when he took a journalism course and felt it was a natural fit for him.

      While he was taking his journalism courses, a producer from CBS 48 Hours, a crime and justice show series, came to speak to his class and offered the students an internship opportunity. Ian felt that working with a crime and justice show with a twist of journalism was perfect combination for him. He interned with the show for three years. He then became a Freelance Associate Producer in his senior year of college, which would set the stage for him to work at the CBS affiliate in the Atlanta area, years later. He didn't have any job offers following his graduation. When suddenly KKCO in Grand Junction,Colorado, called him to offer him a job opportunity at the station. One year later, he moved to WSAV, a NBC affiliate in Savannah, Georgia. Two years later, he would end up at WPLG now nearing his first year at the South Florida station.

    Today, the press is being scrutinized for everything the media reports. He says that every day he does his very best to report two or more sides of a story. He says that unfortunaley local news is being categorized the same way as national news which has recently been coined as "Fake News." He says that fake news originated from small pieces of facts that would evolve into fake stories. Today, he feels that fake news has turned into something based on whether one would agree with it or not. He says that it is defined in its own way and that journalists have a very important job and responsiblity to get all the sides covered fairly and then allow viewers to come up with their opinions.


    When it comes to balancing his personal and professional life. He says that it has resulted in him having to make major sacrifices and keeping them separate from each other. An example of this is when he was recently vacationing in New York City, when a car crashed into Time Square. While he was there, he went to the scene and broadcasted from the area as the investigation was going on. Stories like this have contributed to a recent one year review by the Local 10 News President who has said he is capable to work anytime.


     Although Ian is well know throughout South Florida. Many viewers would not know that he grew up playing ice hockey as well as being a Panthers fan. He also has a rescue dog named Charlie and, finally, he never expected that he would return to South Florida after finishing high school at Cooper City High School.

     The advice that Ian would give to journalism students is to first relearn everything you learned in college. He said to "Get ready for a whirlwind" and added that journalists have never been this structurized. Ian learned this from his first two markets. He also feels that having very strong people skills is important and that one should take advice from everyone. He also says that it's important to give balance facts, because the truth will turn some people off; Lastly, he says the job of journalists is to keep government, leaders and peers in check. At the end of the interview Ian summarized the intentions of journalists by saying "Journalists' jobs are not to push any agenda or glorify or leave out certain group of people, but it is to just give the facts."