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Christy McDonald is an Emmy-Award winning TV anchor and journalist who has covered news in Detroit and Michigan for 25 years. For the past 10 years, she was Managing Editor/Anchor for WTVS Detroit PBS One Detroit.
Christy created the station’s weekly flagship politics/news show “MiWeek” in 2011, which evolved into “One Detroit” in 2017. In 2020, as a response to the pandemic, McDonald helped create and anchor “One Detroit: Arts & Culture,” a second weekly program devoted to the arts.
CHRISTY’S VALUES: Curiosity, Hard Work, Presence, Preparation
She also anchored special coverage for DPTV including documentaries, live news events, and the Mackinac Policy Conference. McDonald appeared numerous times over the years on the PBS NewsHour and CNN reporting on Michigan politics and Detroit’s financial crisis.
A sought-after moderator, McDonald has led lively discussions at the Detroit Economic Club, Detroit Policy Conference, Mackinac Policy Conference, International Women’s Day events and BLM’s CEO Summit, among others.
McDonald also co-moderated Gubernatorial debates in 2014 and 2018. She has appeared on WDET public radio as a guest host/panelist, as well as a featured guest on the syndicated radio show “Remarkable Women” and WJR’s “Anything is Possible.”
McDonald connected with Detroit viewers for 10 years on WXYZ-TV as an anchor and reporter on the big stories: from 9/11 in New York to political corruption in the city of Detroit. She has received numerous reporting honors from the Associated Press, Michigan Association of Broadcasters and Society for Professional Journalists for moderating, anchoring, and breaking news coverage.
She is the recipient of an Emmy Award for “Best TV News Anchor” in the state of Michigan, as well as for breaking news reporting. McDonald also has guest lectured at Michigan State, U of M Dearborn and Wayne State University.
Christy is a passionate advocate for colorectal cancer awareness after losing her husband Jamie Samuelsen to the disease in August 2020. Samuelsen was a beloved fixture in the Detroit sports talk radio scene and urged listeners to get colonoscopies as his last radio message before he passed away.
McDonald has advocated in her late husband’s name with fundraisers from tennis mixers to a night at Comerica Park, along with nationwide media appearances and podcasts to continue the message of early screening. She is the 2022 recipient of the Barry Bremen Memorial Inspiration Award from the Michigan Jewish Sports Foundation for her advocacy work.
McDonald is a graduate of Michigan State University’s James Madison College with a degree in Political Philosophy. She’s raising her three teenagers in her hometown of Troy.