Benjamin Sampair Tracy (born July 16, 1976 in St. Paul, Minnesota) is an American journalist known for his work as a national correspondent for CBS News since January 2008. [1] He served as CBS's White House correspondent from 2019 to 2020, [2] and is currently the network's senior environmental correspondent, based in Los Angeles. [3]
Tracy was born in St. Paul, Minnesota. He graduated from St. Thomas Academy, and later from Marquette University with Bachelor's degrees in broadcast journalism and political science, and with a Master's degree in public service.
Tracy was a reporter for WCCO-TV, the CBS-affiliate station in Minneapolis, where he was a member of the station's investigative team, covering many major stories, including the methamphetamine epidemic and the collapse of the 35W bridge.[ citation needed]
During that time, he also was a contributor to the Saturday Early Show, to which he brought his signature "Good Question" segment, started at WCCO-TV, to a national audience. Tracy also reported for the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric on the collapse of the I-35W bridge and flooding in southern Minnesota.[ citation needed]
Before joining WCCO-TV, Tracy worked as a reporter at WISN-TV Milwaukee and WBAY-TV Green Bay, Wisconsin. He is the recipient of five Emmy Awards and the Alfred DuPont-Columbia award for excellence in broadcast journalism.[ citation needed]
On October 5, 2020, Tracy criticized the lack of adherence he observed at the Trump White House to public health guidelines to slow the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic "I felt safer reporting in North Korea than I currently do reporting at The White House. This is just crazy. For context folks, this is in reference to the COVID-19 outbreak at The White House." [4] The tweet garnered nearly 195,000 "Likes", [2] as well as swift criticism from Republicans. [2] [5]