During his 15-year career as a television news reporter Alan Berg won more than 20 awards. The Associated Press twice named Alan as the best television reporter in Texas and he won two regional Emmy awards and an Edward R. Murrow award.Alan graduated from the University of Texas with a journalism degree and began his career as a photographer/reporter before eventually moving into full-time reporting. After working in several small markets, he joined Dallas' WFAA-TV as a general assignment reporter and was later promoted to Austin bureau chief. In this role, he coordinated coverage of the state capitol, south Texas and Mexico. His work earned national recognition within the profession. Alan was an invited panelist on political coverage at the RTNDA national conference in 1999 and participated as a think tank member and panelist in the PBS Democracy Project's Best Practices 2000. Alan's work is noted in the journalism textbook "News in a New Century" [Lanson/Fought, Pine Forge Press, 1999].
In December 2000, Alan left television news to concentrate solely on documentary filmmaking. His first hour-long documentary on heroin addiction premiered in November 2001 at the Deep Ellum Film Festival in Dallas, where it won "Best Documentary." It also won the special jury award at the Houston International Film Festival and was a finalist in the USA Film Festival's Short Film and Video Competition. It was fed nationally to all PBS affiliates in August 2002. Alan also serves as an adjunct professor in the journalism department at the University of Texas, where he teaches television reporting. His most recent documentary, on big band music in New Orleans, won the Audience Award at the Austin Film Festival and is now being developed for theatrical release.
Alan shares his movie-making expertise with you on DIY Network's Making Home Movies.
