KION-TV, the largest commercial newsroom on California’s central coast, has overnight shuttered its newsroom. This sudden closure affects the staff and the community in which they reside. The station, a fixture in the community for over half a century, recently started an exciting new chapter. They’re collaborating with our paired-up CBS affiliate station in San Francisco! This expansion is part of a larger shift to improve local news coverage for KION-TV’s longtime television viewers in the South Bay region.
KION-TV’s newsroom shuttered the day after the announcement. This facility had traditionally served the Salinas, Santa Cruz, and Monterey Peninsula area. This unexpected news led to the immediate layoff of over a dozen staff members, many of whom are devastated. Jeanette Bent, managing editor for KION-TV, wrote to say that we should all be afraid of the effects of this shutdown.
“It’s a disservice to this community and we’re all heartbroken.” – Jeanette Bent
As of March 2021, KION-TV has ceased producing its own full local newscasts. The region is currently facing one of the largest gaps in local journalism. The region’s Latino population, now in the majority, will no doubt experience compounded loss as news coverage disappears. This is particularly true now that Telemundo 23, which ran out of the same studio as KION-TV, is going dark. That leaves the entire central coast—both inland and coastal counties—without a single Spanish-language news program.
Rall Bradley, representing CBS Bay Area, emphasized that their partnership with KPIX aims to ensure that viewers across the Monterey, Salinas, and Santa Cruz regions continue to receive essential local journalism.
“Our partnership with KPIX ensures that viewers across the Monterey, Salinas and Santa Cruz region continue to receive the high-quality local journalism they deserve.” – Rall Bradley
Bradley further noted that this collaboration merges KION’s longstanding ties to the community with CBS’s innovative storytelling and trusted reporting.
The potential consequences of KION-TV’s closure have sent shockwaves through the journalism field. Media experts, blaring alarms over the attempts, call the situation “alarming and widespread,” raising red flags for the local journalism sector and its long-term survival.
Victor Guzman, a former anchor and reporter at KION-TV, said that it didn’t seem real when he heard the station’s newsroom was shutting down.
“I still can’t believe it. I ended my morning show by saying, ‘We’ll have more news at 5.’ I had no idea.” – Victor Guzman
KSBW is currently the last remaining television broadcaster serving over 750,000 residents along California’s central coast. This creates an important question about whether or not local news can be sustained in this new local media ecosystem.