Brett Forrest joins the News5 team as a Senior Reporter. He’s an Emmy-winning journalist who was born and raised in Colorado Springs.
Before returning home to the Rocky Mountains, he most recently reported and anchored at KSNV, the NBC affiliate in Las Vegas. Brett was a General Assignment Reporter who focused on politics, business, the environment, and breaking news.
Notable coverage included an exclusive interview with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, the first one-on-one sit down with Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo, plus reporting on the Golden Knights Stanley Cup championship, the first Formula One Las Vegas Grand Prix, and the NFL Draft. Brett also covered the Dec. 2023 UNLV school shooting while sheltering in place for four hours, then reporting live on CNN with Anderson Cooper after leaving lockdown.
In 2023, Brett was nominated for four regional Emmys in categories including Politics and Government Reporting, Talent-Reporter Craft, Single Shift Reporting, and News Special.
Prior to Las Vegas, Brett was the weekend anchor and reporter for KRNV, the NBC affiliate in Reno, Nev. He extensively covered the devastating California and Nevada wildfires in 2021 including the Dixie, Tamarack, and Caldor. He reported multiple in-depth pieces on the origins and rising costs of these fires. This wildfire coverage earned him his first Emmy nomination.
Brett also co-directed a documentary film, "Victoria's Foil," about a wheelchair fencer battling opponents as well as her degenerative disease while trying to qualify for the Tokyo Paralympics.
The film won several documentary awards and was screened at domestic and international film festivals. "Victoria's Foil" premiered on PBS stations across the country and was nominated for a regional Emmy award. The documentary led to his selection as a 2020 Reporting Fellow with the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.
Brett also helped produce an investigative deep-dive podcast called "The Heist," which was funded by the Center for Public Integrity. The podcast looked into the 2017 tax cuts and 2020 coronavirus relief bill, tracking where the money actually went. The series was a 2021 duPont Awards finalist and won Best Business Podcast from the Ambies.
Brett earned his Master of Science in Journalism from the Columbia Journalism School and has undergraduate degrees in Film and Anthropology from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
He was born and raised in Colorado Springs, graduating from Cheyenne Mountain High School in 2007. His late paternal grandfather was once commanding general of Fort Carson and his late maternal grandfather was an Air Force officer, which is what originally brought his family to Colorado Springs.
Outside of work, you can catch Brett climbing the tallest mountains he can find, mountain biking, snowboarding, or rock climbing. It took him a decade, but he successfully climbed all of Colorado’s 14ers and has even added others like Mount Whitney in California since then. Sadly, his attempt of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania was less successful due to altitude sickness.
Brett loves meeting people and sharing their stories, holding those in power accountable, and reporting on issues that help the community.
For any story tips or ideas, big or small, email him at brett.forrest@koaa.com or follow him on X @brettforrest89 or Facebook @brettforrestnews. He can also communicate via encrypted apps like Telegram if preferred.
He is willing to speak off the record or on background if the story deems it necessary.
