Venton Blandin, a seasoned Emmy winning journalist and a Regional Edward R. Murrow recipient, is the Executive Reporter at KRIS-TV in Corpus Christi, Texas. He joined the station in November 2023 after reporting at KRIS-TV’s sister-station in Phoenix, Arizona.
Venton has nearly 30 years of newsroom experience including time working as a station mascot, production assistant, assignment editor, one-man band reporter, reporter and anchor.
Prior to reporting at KNXV-TV in Phoenix, Venton took a year-long break from news to work for the U.S. Department of Justice as a Communications Director for a U.S. Attorney’s Office. He’s reported at KMOV-TV in St. Louis, MO, WBMA-TV in Birmingham, AL, WHNT-TV in Huntsville, AL, WCIV in Charleston, SC. He spent years working on the assignment desks at WBAL-TV in Baltimore, MD and WRC-TV in Washington, DC in the 1990’s after getting an early start in production at WYFF-TV in Greenville, SC. Venton became interested in broadcast news while growing up in Chicago, IL.
Venton has covered countless local and national reports including the Emanuel A.M.E. Church shooting in Charleston, the deadly 2015 shooting at the armed forces recruiting office in Chattanooga. He’s covered Hurricane Joaquin in 2015, Hurricane Matthew in 2016, the St. Louis protests in 2017 and was the first person to do a ‘LIVE’ report on the network for the deadly Branson Duck Boat Tragedy in 2018.
Venton attended Bowie State University in Bowie, MD and served in the U.S. Marine Corps. He was honorably discharged as a corporal. Venton serves as the Arts & Entertainment Task Force Chair for the National Association of Black Journalists, is a member of NABJ’s 2024 Leadership Academy and is a member of the Screen Actors Guild.
