All Blog Posts from Public Eye

Rarely in most professions outside of the theater do superiors request that their employees color their hair gray or use an eyebrow pencil to create the appearance of forehead wrinkles. Unless you’re Vince Gonzales, who worked for a news director who suggested that he do both because he looked too young on camera. As a general assignment reporter based in Los Angeles who focuses on investigative reporting, Gonzales has had some other unique experiences and he shares some of them below by answering our questions and yours.



So, what do you do for a living?

I am a general assignment correspondent in our Los Angeles bureau. If anything happens in the Western U.S., Mexico, Alaska or Hawaii, there’s a chance I’ll be sent to cover it.



CBS has also allowed me to carve out a niche as an investigative reporter. Working with producer Barbara Pierce I’ve been able to uncover some fascinating stories that I’m very proud of. Basically, my job is to find stories or documents some people would prefer to keep hidden. Then we track them down to ask the questions they don’t want to answer.



Investigative stories can be complicated and take quite a bit of time. What ends up on the air is just a small portion of our research. We always end up with boxes of documents and supporting information. Thanks to that research, my friends tell me I’ve become a “jack of all trades.”



For example, over the years, I’ve learned way too much about how blood banks work, how anthrax vaccine is made, and how energy traders conduct business.



The best part about this kind of work is you’re usually out there on your own. On my wall is the favorite motto of an investigative reporter I worked with in Arizona, Rich Robertson. It reads: “There is no news where there are other reporters.”

What is not being covered enough at CBS News?

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From investigative reports to breaking news, CBS correspondent Vince Gonzales, has reported for the network out of the Los Angeles bureau since 1998. Joining CBS in 1990 as an intern, Gonzales never left the network and held several production and administrative positions before serving stints as a reporter at local CBS affiliated in Dallas, Denver and Phoenix. He’s helped unearth the real identity of the Vietnam veteran buried in the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, investigated the nation’s second-largest blood bank and covered California’s power crisis. Gonzales won two Alfred I. DuPont awards and an Emmy for his work and now he’s here to answer our questions – and yours. As usual, we’ll ask 10 and pick one from our readers to send – maybe more if they're good enough. Vince is young, tough and aggressive so give him something he can sink his teeth into and e-mail us your best shots.

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From investigative reports to breaking news, CBS correspondent Vince Gonzales, has reported for the network out of the Los Angeles bureau since 1998. Joining CBS in 1992 as an assistant producer for “Up to The Minute,” Gonzales help several production and administrative positions before serving stints as a reporter at local CBS affiliated in Dallas, Denver and Phoenix. He’s helped unearth the real identity of the Vietnam Veteran buried in the Tomb of the Unkown Soldier, investigated the nation’s second-largest blood bank and covered California’s power crisis. Gonzales won two Alred I. DuPont awards and an Emmy for his work and now he’s here to answer our questions – and yours. As usual, we’ll ask ten and pick one from our readers to send – maybe more if they're good enough. Here’s your chance, so e-mail us some questions for Vince.

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