Hi, my name is Marcus, I’m a journalist. I spent 2009 to 2019 freelancing for mainstream news outlets. I now do the news on TikTok, Snapchat, and NewsBreak.
I grew up in China but I’m not Chinese.
My work has been used by: ABC News, NBC News, CBS News, PBS NewsHour, CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, New York Times, Bloomberg, Chicago Sun-Times, Business Insider, The Guardian, Forbes, Conde Nast, CNC World, Al Jazeera, Huffington Post, Getty Images, NPR, and RUPTLY.
I once took a photo of a reporter in Ferguson, Mo. during the riots and that photo was hung in the now-defunct Newseum.
One way or another, you found the fun way to meet me, which includes video and editorial from stories I’ve covered.
This clip best illustrates my best work. I flew in two days before Hurricane Florence’s arrival, monitored forecast models, put myself in a hotel that was on track to get a direct hit, used FEMA flood maps to find out which places would flood, looked for search and rescue in those places, found Ryan Nichols (the guy in the U.S. flag life vest) a volunteer conducting urban search and rescue operations.
We traveled by boat to areas that were inaccessible and I documented his rescues of people and animals.
Here’s everything you want to know about my recent work:
I currently anchor the news on TikTok and Snapchat, I’ve been doing that full-time since September 2020.
In 2021, I covered the attack by pro-Trump forces on the U.S. Capitol.
In 2019 and 2020,
- I shot daily liveshots for Daily Mail TV at the White House
- I covered President Donald Trump’s impeachment as a cuts cam inside the chamber for a wire service and also from a newsroom desk, producing correspondent liveshots for a national network.
- I broke a story about Joe Biden’s campaign staff mistreating reporters
- I shot an anti-gay protester at a Pete Buttigieg event in New Hampshire that was used on Fox News, MSNBC, and CNN.
In 2018,
- I had a funny run-in with a bat while covering a Trump rally
- I produced a mini-documentary with a print reporter where we investigated Chicago Public Schools manufacturing the appearance of community support for a project that would negatively impact low-income communities, which led to the delay and modification of that project, and the caused the local teachers’ union to demand the Investigator General launch an investigation.
- I contributed to the breaking of a story about a Nazi winning the Republican nomination for a Congressional seat.
- I covered Hurricane Florence
- I also covered Comic-Con
In 2017, I covered:
- an election in France (I speak French)
- Inauguration day riots
- more / Donald / Trump
- Hurricane Harvey
- The mass shooting in Las Vegas
- Neo-nazis in Florida
- Alleged pedophile and Republican nominee for U.S. Senator from Alabama Roy Moore’s campaign
- The G20 riots in Germany during Trump’s visit.
In 2016,
- I flew around the country following Donald Trump, in-person, almost every single day, taking more than 100 flights that year.
- I covered protests in Baton Rouge, where I am forever immortalized in history as “the guy wearing a black v-neck and running shorts” in the background of a Pulitzer-prize winning photograph.
- I also covered the Charlotte riots where one person was killed.
- I also covered the Dakota Access Pipeline protest in North Dakota. I was physically present in the camp when the court decided the case in favor of the protesters.
In 2015, I covered:
- the Ferguson riots anniversary
- the LaQuan McDonald protests, which eventually led to the conviction for murder of the first Chicago police officer in decades, a court case which I also covered.
- Hurricane Patricia in rural Jalisco province in Mexico.
In 2014, I covered the Ferguson riots as an on-camera reporter and print writer for Chinese TV & the Chinese wire service, and packaged and fronted a ton of Chinese-American stories.
I covered the Ebola outbreak in-person in Monrovia, Liberia.
I also covered the Detroit Auto Show for multiple years.
In 2013, while in college, I witnessed, chased, and covered the immediate aftermath of an EF5 tornado in Moore, Oklahoma, which killed 24 people and injured 212 others. This was also the year I graduated college.
In 2012, while in college,
- I covered the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in-person, on the day it happened, in addition to days of aftermath
In 2011, while in college,
- I was an intern at Viacom, doing technical QC on everything from The Daily Show with Jon Stewart to Teen Mom 2.
- I also singlehandedly wrote, photographed for, and designed a magazine and reported on Occupy Wall Street to keep my source development skills sharp while I was in a more technical position.
- I embedded myself with the university’s track team, photographing every track meet that year
In 2009 and 2010, I was a journalism major at Rutgers University. While in college, I did internships at:
- The Trentonian newspaper, where I covered local municipal meetings, crime, sports, and house fires
- WZBN Channel 25, where I was partnered with future Yahoo News anchor Sibile Morency.
- News12 New Jersey, where I woke up at 3 a.m. to be in the office by 4 a.m. to be on the air by 5 a.m.
- I also was a news assistant at NY1 (an off-camera MMJ job)
In 2007 and 2008, during high school, I did an internship with Senator Shirley K. Turner in New Jersey. I started out answering phones and writing down people’s complaints for the senator to read, and then I got to write policy memos suggesting fixes in the laws and systems to address their complaints.
She was the chair of the education committee and I was big into education policy (still am!). She and her staff taught me how to advocate for others within the government and how systemic problems can be addressed systematically.
I switched from politics to journalism because I wasn’t satisfied with the speed at which problems were being addressed, and which problems were being dealt with first. It felt like boomers were getting all their problems solved, but no one gave a shit about us, and the purpose of news is to show the country and politicians what problems need to be solved immediately.
Now that you know my background, here’s the story behind my TikTok addiction. And here’s a link to my TikTok.
And that’s it! Need to reach me? There’s a link to contact me on my Linktree.
