For PR professionals seeking to engage one of Washington’s most insightful policy journalists, understanding Marshall’s unique approach is critical. She combines traditional investigative rigor with digital-native storytelling techniques honed during her tenure at NowThis.
“The best stories live at the intersection of paperwork and people.” – Serena Marshall, 2024 Journalism Ethics Symposium
We begin our analysis of Serena Marshall’s distinguished career by tracing her evolution from specialized health reporting to becoming a trusted voice in political journalism. After earning dual degrees in Broadcast Journalism and Health Communication from the University of Florida, Marshall launched her career at ABC News’ medical desk. This foundation enabled her to develop rigorous research methodologies and a patient-centered storytelling approach that later informed her COVID-19 vaccine podcast, Track the Vax.
Her transition to political journalism began through groundbreaking work on the U.S.-Cuba diplomatic restoration (2014-2016), where she demonstrated an exceptional ability to navigate complex policy landscapes. This led to her role as Senior Political Correspondent at NowThis, where she pioneered digital-first political coverage strategies during the 2022 midterms. Today, as White House Correspondent for Scripps News, Marshall combines her policy expertise with a sharp focus on how administrative decisions impact marginalized communities.
This 2025 analysis piece exemplifies Marshall’s ability to connect bureaucratic changes to human outcomes. Through exclusive interviews with immigration attorneys and federal employees, she revealed how simultaneous budget cuts to legal services and increases in enforcement spending created due process crises. The article’s impact metrics showed a 300% increase in constituent contacts to congressional offices regarding judicial confirmation processes.
Marshall’s tech-policy crossover investigation broke down the implications of private sector communications influencing federal regulatory decisions. By obtaining FOIA-released email chains and cross-referencing them with stock trading records, she created a timeline showing how certain policy announcements aligned with market movements. This work has been cited in three congressional hearings on tech accountability.
This rights-focused piece combined Marshall’s strengths in rapid policy analysis and human interest storytelling. She juxtaposed interviews with Olympic athletes against emergency room data showing increased mental health crises among transgender teens post-announcement. The article’s balanced approach earned recognition from both LGBTQ+ advocacy groups and sports policy analysts.
Marshall consistently prioritizes stories that reveal the gap between legislative intent and real-world execution. A successful pitch might examine how new climate regulations inadvertently burden small-scale farmers while benefiting corporate agribusiness. Reference her 2024 series on broadband infrastructure funding disparities to model this approach.
Her work frequently amplifies voices excluded from mainstream policy debates. When pitching health stories, focus on rural communities or non-English speaking populations. Her award-winning Medicaid expansion coverage demonstrates how to frame systemic issues through personal narratives.
While Marshall doesn’t create interactive dashboards, she expertly translates complex datasets into narrative frameworks. Supply annotated FOIA responses or hyper-localized statistics to support your pitch, similar to her analysis of SNAP benefit discrepancies across congressional districts.
“The Perfect Storm” coverage demonstrated how to maintain journalistic rigor while conveying human vulnerability in crisis reporting.
At PressContact, we aim to help you discover the most relevant journalists for your PR efforts. If you're looking to pitch to more journalists who write on Politics, here are some other real estate journalist profiles you may find relevant:
