Laura Diaz (born February 16, 1958) is an American

newscaster A news presenter – also known as a newsreader, newscaster (short for "news broadcaster"), anchorman or anchorwoman, news anchor or simply an anchor – is a person who presents news during a news program on TV, radio or the Internet. ...

KTTV KTTV (channel 11) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship of the Fox network. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside MyNetworkTV ou ...

Fox 11 in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

. She began working for the Fox station in May 2012. She had served as solo anchor of the weekday editions of CBS2 News at 6 pm from April 2010 until she left the station. She produced and hosted some "Eye on Our Community" specials for CBS2. She was previously Diaz the lead anchor at CBS2 and ABC7 in Los Angeles. She was the first Mexican-American to hold a lead anchor position at a

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban ...

English-language television station.

Early life and career

Diaz, a first generation

Mexican-American Mexican Americans ( es, mexicano-estadounidenses, , or ) are Americans of full or partial Mexican heritage. In 2019, Mexican Americans comprised 11.3% of the US population and 61.5% of all Hispanic and Latino Americans. In 2019, 71% of Mexica ...

, was born in

Santa Paula Santa Paula ( Spanish for " St. Paula") is a city in Ventura County, California, United States. Situated amid the orchards of the Santa Clara River Valley, the city advertises itself to tourists as the "Citrus Capital of the World". Santa P ...

, a small community in

Ventura County, California Ventura County () is a county in the southern part of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 843,843. The largest city is Oxnard, and the county seat is the city of Ventura. Ventura County comprises the Oxn ...

. Her family moved to the

Santa Clarita Valley The Santa Clarita Valley (SCV) is part of the upper watershed of the Santa Clara River in Southern California. The valley was part of the Rancho San Francisco Mexican land grant. Located in Los Angeles County, its main population center is th ...

when she was four years old. She is Roman Catholic. Diaz graduated from Hart High School in

Santa Clarita Santa Clarita (; Spanish for "Little St. Clare") is a city in northwestern Los Angeles County in the U.S. state of California. With a 2020 census population of 228,673, it is the third-largest city by population in Los Angeles County, the 17t ...

before moving to

San Luis Obispo, California San Luis Obispo (; Spanish for " St. Louis the Bishop", ; Chumash: ''tiłhini'') is a city and county seat of San Luis Obispo County, in the U.S. state of California. Located on the Central Coast of California, San Luis Obispo is roughly hal ...

to attend

California Polytechnic State University California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (California Polytechnic State University, Cal Poly"Cal Poly" may also refer to California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt in Arcata, California or California State Polytechnic Univ ...

(Cal Poly SLO), where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. Her first job in television was at

KSBY KSBY (channel 6) is a television station licensed to San Luis Obispo, California, United States, serving the Central Coast of California as an affiliate of NBC and The CW Plus. The station is owned by the E.W. Scripps Company, and maintains s ...

in San Luis Obispo, followed by one at

KFSN KFSN-TV (channel 30) is a television station in Fresno, California, United States, airing programming from the ABC network. It is owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, and maintains studios on G Street in do ...

Fresno Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, maki ...

. She returned to Southern California in 1983 as a reporter for

KABC-TV KABC-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast of the United States, West Coast Flagship (broadcasting), flagship of the American Broadcasting Company, ABC network. ...

at the station's bureau in Orange County. She covered several major stories as a reporter at KABC-TV, including the 1986

Los Angeles Central Library Richard J. Riordan Central Library, also known as the Los Angeles Central Library, is the main branch of the Los Angeles Public Library (LAPL), in Downtown Los Angeles. It is named after Mayor of Los Angeles Richard Riordan. It consists of tw ...

Fire, the

1992 Los Angeles Riots The 1992 Los Angeles riots, sometimes called the 1992 Los Angeles uprising and the Los Angeles Race Riots, were a series of riots and civil disturbances that occurred in Los Angeles County, California, in April and May 1992. Unrest began in So ...

and the

Northridge earthquake The 1994 Northridge earthquake was a moment 6.7 (), blind thrust earthquake that occurred on January 17, 1994, at 4:30:55 a.m. PST in the San Fernando Valley region of the City of Los Angeles. The quake had a duration of approximatel ...

in 1994. In 1985, she began working as a weekend anchor, and three years later, she began anchoring KABC-TV'S 6 pm weekday evening newscast. In 1997, she was named anchor for the station's 5 pm and 11 pm newscasts. This promotion made her the first female

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties for ...

lead anchor at an English language television station in Los Angeles. Diaz joined

KCBS-TV KCBS-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship of the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside independent outl ...

in September 2002 as co-anchor of the CBS 2 News at 5 and 11 pm with Harold Greene, and in 2004 Paul Magers joined her as co-anchor. Diaz was also one of the original hosts of the groundbreaking ''Vista L.A.'' on KABC-TV, one of the first public affairs program in Southern California to serve the English-speaking Latino audience in the region. That program won the coveted

Imagen Award The Imagen Awards are administered by the Imagen Foundation, an organization dedicated to "encouraging and recognizing the positive portrayals of Latinos in the entertainment industry." To be considered for an Imagen Award, a media piece or person ...

twice while she was co-host. Her work on ''Vista L.A.'' also won three local

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

s. In August 2011 Diaz won a third Imagen award when "Eye on Our Community" was selected as Best Local Informational Program. She joined the FOX L.A. weekend news broadcasts alongside FOX news anchor Susan Hirasuna in May 2012.

Awards

Diaz is a fourteen-time Emmy Award winner and a three-time

winner. In August 2011, Diaz and her team won the Imagen Award for Best Local Informational Program. It focused on the controversial topic of African American and Latino

race relations Race relations is a sociological concept that emerged in Chicago in connection with the work of sociologist Robert E. Park and the Chicago race riot of 1919. Race relations designates a paradigm or field in sociology and a legal concept in th ...

in Los Angeles. This was the first special produced and aired under the CBS2 "Eye on Our Community" banner. In 2006 Diaz earned an Emmy for Individual Achievement in Feature Reporting. She also won back-to-back Golden Mike Awards in 2005 and 2006 for best feature reporting. In June 2005, she landed the first in-depth television interview with incoming Los Angeles Mayor

Antonio Villaraigosa Antonio Ramón Villaraigosa (; né Villar Jr.; born January 23, 1953) is an American politician who served as the 41st Mayor of Los Angeles from 2005 to 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, Villaraigosa was a national co-chairman of Hillary ...

. That story, which Diaz produced and reported, earned her a national Imagen Award in 2006. In 2003, Diaz received the L.A. Press Club's highest honor, the Joseph M. Quinn Award for journalistic excellence and distinction.

Creative contribution

Diaz sits on the advisory board of trustees of The Joyful Child Foundation,The Joyful Child Foundation
/ref> started by children's advocate Erin Runnion. Diaz's commitment to this cause grew from her extensive coverage of the murder of Runnion's daughter, Samantha, by a sexual predator in 2002. The foundation works to organize neighborhood watches around the country and keep child predators off the streets. By the end of 2004, 51 programs had been established concentrated in the Orange County area of southern California. The California Conservatory of the Arts sponsored a group called the Kids Next Door, who recorded a fundraising Christmas album at the end of 2004, with funds going to the Joyful Child Foundation. In addition to funding the "Samantha's Pride" initiative, the Joyful Child Foundation uses donations to fund children's creative writing and artistic programs; fund nonprofit organisations that seek to prevent child abuse and abduction; and fund research on predator behavior and recidivism. Diaz is a member of the Diversity Committee for the prestigious Pasadena Playhouse, which has a rich history in launching new works and landmark revivals. It is deeply committed to cultural and theatrical diversity.

References

Sources

"CBS changes anchor lineup"

"Laura Diaz to pursue producing career"

External links

Laura Diaz's official site

Laura Diaz's blog

Unofficial fan site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Diaz, Laura 1958 births Living people Television anchors from Los Angeles American women television journalists American television personalities of Mexican descent California Polytechnic State University alumni Catholics from California People from Santa Paula, California 21st-century American women