Andrea McCarren | Reporter

Andrea McCarren is a multimedia journalist with WUSA and a regular contributor to USA Today. She's a veteran television journalist, whose reporting has earned three Edward R. Murrow Awards, 20 Regional Emmy Awards, national honors from both Investigative Reporters and Editors and the Robert F. Kennedy Foundation, and dozens of local accolades. 
 
Andrea is proud to be raising a service dog for a wounded warrior. Bunce is named for Marine Cpl. Justin Bunce, who was severely injured by an IED while serving our country in Iraq. Bunce is an English Labrador Retriever who lives with Andrea and accompanies her on every news   assignment. She will raise and train him for two years until he is paired with a veteran. He will help a vet who has post-traumatic stress, or serve as a mobility dog for a veteran with physical disabilities, like an amputation or chronic pain.
 
In April of 2015, she was named a Kiplinger Fellow in Public Affairs Journalism. In 2014, the Chesapeake Associated Press Broadcasters Association named Andrea 'Best Reporter' and awarded her 'Best News Series.' In 2006, Andrea was granted the prestigious Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University, where she developed and taught the first multimedia/broadcast journalism courses in Harvard history.
 
Andrea's career includes covering the Clinton White House for ABC News, where she frequently traveled with the President on Air Force One. She has served as a DC-based correspondent for NBC News, and has been a local reporter and news anchor in Miami, Portland, Wichita, and Savannah. Andrea has been reporting in Washington, DC for more than two decades.
Andrea's award-winning investigative work has led to changes in state law, been shown in Congressional hearings and state legislative sessions, been used nationwide to train law enforcement and has even helped federal authorities capture a wanted fugitive.
 
She has traveled twice to El Salvador, documenting the MS-13 gang pipeline between the U.S. and Central America. She reported extensively on the flow of illegal immigrants from El Salvador to the Washington, DC area.
 
In 2009, Andrea was unexpectedly laid off from her job in a corporate downsizing, and experienced what millions of Americans have faced. She responded by creating "Project Bounce Back" to document the way other Americans handled adversity in tough economic times. With her husband, three children and a rented RV, she traveled through 21 states and covered more than 6,400 miles to find stories of inspiration, hope and reinvention. Their itinerary was determined primarily through social media.
 
In 2011, Andrea investigated the epidemic of underage drinking and substance abuse. She produced dozens of news stories, including a series of reports that led to the arrest and conviction of a D.C. liquor store owner who was caught selling alcohol to minors. Her work attracted worldwide attention and has been recognized with both national, regional and local awards. 
 
Andrea is a cum laude anthropology graduate of Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York and the London School of Economics in England. She was honored with the KCBS-TV Fellowship for graduate study at the University of Southern California School of Journalism. Andrea is married to Bill McCarren, the Executive Director of the National Press Club.
 

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