This week KION-TV, a broadcast news outlet on California’s central coast that’s been on air for more than 50 years, announced it was entering a “new chapter” with a San Francisco CBS affiliate to bring expanded coverage to its viewers.
But staff say the development has been devastating for the operation – the newsroom, which covers Salinas, Santa Cruz and Monterey, suddenly shuttered and more than a dozen people were laid off.
“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, the station’s assistant news director, told Lookout Santa Cruz.
KION broadcast its last show on Tuesday morning and executives with the station’s owner, the News-Press & Gazette, informed employees of the decision, while others learned of the development from co-workers, the Los Angeles Times reported.
In a statement published on Tuesday and attributed to the KION546 news team, the station announced that beginning that afternoon it would “no longer produce its own full local newscasts”. KION will instead partner with KPIX CBS San Francisco to bring viewers the “most significant stories” from northern and central California, “while continuing to highlight local reporting, weather forecasts and community updates”, the statement said.
“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, an executive at News-Press & Gazette, said.
“This collaboration brings together KION’s deep roots in the community with the trusted reporting and innovative storytelling of CBS Bay Area – delivering a seamless experience for viewers during a time of change.”
Meanwhile, workers report that Telemundo 23, which was housed at KION, is also shutting down, leaving an area with a majority Latino population without a Spanish-language news show.
Local news has collapsed across the US in recent decades, with a 75% drop in local journalists since 2002, according to a report from Muck Rack and Rebuild Local News, which describes the decline as “alarming and widespread”. One in three US counties do not have equivalent of one full-time local journalist, and an average of 2.5 newspapers shut down each week.
Monterey County Now described the development as a “devastating blow” to local journalism. Jeanette Bent, the station’s managing editor, told the outlet: “It’s a disservice to this community and we’re all heartbroken.”
News-Press & Gazette has offered to pay staff for the remainder of their “contractual year” and help those interested in relocating to other News-Press & Gazette stations, Guzman told Lookout Santa Cruz.
News-Press & Gazette did not immediately respond to a request for comment.