Linda Jackson
Evening Anchor, Executive Coach
Linda Jackson graduated from Indiana University in Bloomington with a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism.
She co-anchors the 21Alive newscasts at 4, 5 and 6. 21Alive News at 4 is the Fort Wayne market's first newscast at that time of the day.
Linda also serves as newsroom Executive Coach, mentoring members of the team with their on-air work.
Linda served as a news intern at Channel 33 in Fort Wayne while in college. She began her broadcast journalism career in Fort Wayne as a producer and reporter before becoming an anchor. She has worked all shifts and served as a newsroom manager numerous times.
Linda is a 2022 Silver Circle inductee for the Central Great Lakes Emmy Region of the NATAS organization.
Linda is also a 2020 inductee into the Indiana Pioneers Richard M. Fairbanks Hall of Fame which is part of the Indiana Broadcasters Association.
Before working with 21Alive, Linda was part of Fort Wayne's NBC. She and several other members of the Fort Wayne’s NBC News team received a 2018 Regional Emmy Award for best weekend newscast and their coverage of the April Tinsley Tragedy. The entire Fort Wayne’s NBC team received a 2018 Regional Emmy Award for Overall Excellence.
Linda has received several other industry awards including Emmys from NATAS CGL, the Indiana News Photographers Association, Indiana Society of Professional Journalists and the Indiana Associated Press. She was named INAP Best Reporter of 2018 for stories on the Fort Wayne opioid epidemic and how it plays out on the streets and in the courts, the Peru, Indiana Youth Circus and her feature “Happy Birthday Henry” about a young Riley Hospital patient from Fort Wayne.
Linda is the 2018 recipient of the Indiana Judges Association first place award for her story on the opioid epidemic in Fort Wayne. She is a Poynter Institute honors graduate, a “Future 40” award recipient from the Fort Wayne Business Journal and a first place Indiana Hospital and Health Association award-winner for her series, “A Gift for Peggy.” She also received a first place award in 2005 from the INAP for “A Gift for Peggy.” Readers of the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette and “Whatzup” have voted Linda “Best TV Station Personality” several times.
Linda also enjoys working with area nonprofits and says she loves getting to meet people from our community who have some of the the biggest hearts anywhere. She is the 2023 recipient of the Foellinger Foundation's David A. Bobilya Excellence in Nonprofit Leadership Award for her time as chair of the Erin's House for Grieving Children Board. She calls that experience a dream team effort because of the excellence in each of the Erin's House staff members and board members.
Linda is also the recipient of the 2024 Fort Wayne Rotary Club Paul Harris Community Service Award.
Linda enjoys broadcast journalism because it’s a “people business” and because she’s part of a team that strives for fairness, facts and service. She also chose her career because of the visual images that go hand in hand in delivering broadcast news, not to mention the immediacy of the medium. She enjoys meeting new people and the variety in her job. No two days are the same!
Fort Wayne is home for Linda, her husband and their son. They love it here and appreciate the kindness of people. She is originally from Peru, Indiana and has several family members there and in the area. She grew up performing in the Peru Amateur Circus spending several years flying on a trapeze! Her interests include reading, animals, traveling, sports, circuses and exercise.
You can email her at Linda.Jackson@gray.tv.
