09/25/2025
8 a.m. classes are tough, but today, mornings for Marta Berglund ('21) start as early as 3:30 a.m. as she prepares for her role as a traffic anchor. Between 4:30 and 9 a.m., she delivers live traffic updates while monitoring road conditions across the seven cities in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia. After her segment, she reports and produces up to three stories a week.
Initially a communications major, Berglund discovered the Xavier University's Digital Innovation Film and Television Program— and it changed everything. “I remember thinking, ‘Wait a minute, what is this literal, exact thing I want to do?’” she recalled.
Berglund believes the DIFT program’s hands-on approach to media production gave her the skills foundation and confidence to thrive in the fast-paced world of broadcast journalism.
She built on that foundation by participating in the weekly XUTVA broadcast.
“We got a chance to understand everything — the anchor, working the teleprompter and how to produce a newscast,” she said. “So you have an appreciation for all the different roles because you are not pigeonholed into one thing.”
Berglund’s work has already made a significant impact. In her previous role in Illinois, she produced two investigative pieces — one on a homeless shelter with code violations and another on abuse in group homes for people with developmental disabilities, which was given the 2023 Best Investigative Report from the Illinois News Broadcasters Association.
