Keith Garvin is a television anchor and reporter for KPRC in Houston, as well as a graduate of the Reynolds School of Journalism at the University of Nevada, Reno. He was in town recently to give the keynote address for the 51st annual Scripps Dinner and Lecture. He stopped by KUNR to talk about his reporting, which has taken him all over the country as well as to Iraq and Rwanda.
As one of the few local reporters embedded with the U.S. military for Operation Iraqi Freedom, he's told the stories of service members and actually experienced some of their challenges abroad. One obstacle he recalls in his interview with KUNR is the weather in Iraq. Both U.S. forces and his camera crew were hindered by blinding sand storms.
"When we ended up leaving to come back to the United States," he says, "we pretty much had to leave because our equipment was down to its last leg."
Garvin has also reported from Rwanda, covering the 15-year remembrance for the genocide there. Despite a national history tainted by bloodshed, Rwanda is recovering and Garvin says storytelling is a major factor in that process.
"That country has taken huge steps to heal," he explains, "and part of that is not being ashamed to tell that story."
Along with traveling the globe for his reporting, Garvin has worked at stations and networks across the country, including ABC News in Washington, D.C., WTVD in Raleigh, North Carolina, and KFSN-TV in Fresno, California. He's been with KPRC in Houston since 2012.