About Me
This is the official About Me page…but feel free to check out Linkedin
for my professional resume.
I’m Eric Ortega, two time Emmy-award winning creative Executive Producer with over a decade of experience producing and developing national news programs, half-hour and and both short & longform documentaries.
As the showrunner behind “ABC News Live Prime with Linsey Davis” – the streaming channel’s marquee primetime news program, I lead a team to ratings and critical acclaim, garnering four Emmy nominations in my first year as Executive Producer. I also developed and oversaw numerous specials on Disney+ and Hulu while garnering national recognition as one of the Imagen Foundation’s most Influential Latinos in Media and Broadcast & Cable’s 40 under 40 in media.
Prior to ABC, I was the Senior Producer for the most awarded nightly broadcast three years running – VICE News Tonight. With over eight years of producing experience, I had the privilege of being part of the team that relaunched VNT after having spent the last few years at a major cable news channel, working in and out of control rooms, in the field, and scouring social media-not just for the high-octane story of the day, but for the unreported, in-the-weeds, information not often featured.
I Line Produced across several shows on MSNBC for years, after working as a writer and producer on various programs including “Early TODAY” “Meet the Press Daily with Chuck Todd”, “UP with David Gura”, “Ronan Farrow Daily”, “MSNBC Live with Hallie Jackson”, “The Briefing with Luke Russert” and others; which found me reporting on camera, publishing articles, writing scripts, building rundowns, booking guests, and manning the control room.
Before producing for MSNBC, I had the honor of being a part of 
NBC’s celebrated Page Program where broadcasters across the industry, from Regis Philbin and Ted Coppel, to Willard Scott, and even Disney CEO Michael Isner, got their start. Being a Page at NBC was a tremendous privilege and a great learning experience. If you’re interested in the program and want to know more about it, click on the photo to the right and see a special TODAY show feature I was a part of where Lester Holt and Erica Hill had the chance to be Pages for the day.
Prior to making the jump to news, I worked in Washington, DC first as a Legislative Fellow with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, then as a legislative staffer on Capitol Hill. While on the Hill, I worked for both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives; for Committees and Congress members, writing remarks, preparing speeches, and coordinating press strategies, while also meeting with constituents and special interest groups on the issues of the day.
After years dedicated to this work, and seeing first hand what lawmakers and their staff go through behind the scenes, I found I had an overwhelming desire to not just work for those in power, but to question them and bring greater transparency to the public via news. Working in government has helped steer my reporting, giving me an intimate understanding of how lawmakers function, how their offices and staff coordinate, and ultimately how their agendas are set. I hope to bring all of this into my on air reporting.
I graduated from Rutgers University with a B.A. in Political Science and a B.F.A. in Performing Arts.