Kris Gutierrez

Kris was the natural choice to anchor the Merit Street evening news because he’s reported from big cities and small towns coast to coast during his landmark 25 years in national and local TV news. Most recently, he served as the main nightly news anchor at the NBC News affiliate in Houston. Kris honed his craft as a field reporter in Austin and Sherman, Texas, and Youngstown, Ohio before anchoring prominent newscasts in Chicago and Dallas. Now, as lead anchor of Merit Street’s flagship nightly news broadcast, he brings his brand of tireless, uncompromised journalism to a nationwide audience. Kris aims to be a voice of reason, clarity, and sanity in a media landscape that tends to reward the loudest and harshest voices and opinions. He chooses facts over fear, nuance over hyperbole, and calm over calamity. He wants his viewers to leave the broadcast feeling informed and optimistic so they can make educated decisions on issues important to their lives.

He has a rich history of doing this. Following the death of George Floyd, Kris anchored news coverage that earned his station a coveted Edward R. Murrow award. Merit Street is honored to welcome one of the most respected names in Heartland Journalism. Kris was the first news anchor in the state of Texas to be nominated for a regional Emmy award as best News Anchor,  seven years in a row.  He won the individual honor an unprecedented six times. The Houston Press Club honored Kris as a Top Television Journalist and his trademark storytelling earned a Best Live Report award from the Dallas Press Club. FOX News Channel hired him to lead the network’s Dallas bureau; he was the sole reporter responsible for all editorial content in a four state region that included Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana.