Pat Harvey was named co-anchor of CBS2′s 5 and 11 pm broadcasts in April of 2010. She also anchors CBS2’s 6 pm newscast.
She joined CBS2 following 20 years with sister station KCAL9 as one of the original anchors of the nation’s first nightly three-hour newscast. In recognition of her 20th anniversary with KCAL and contributions to the people of southern California, the Los Angeles City Council and LA County Board of Supervisors declared October 30, 2009 “Pat Harvey Day” by proclamation.
In February 2012, Pat was inducted into the National Association of Black Journalists Hall of Fame at the Newseum in Washington DC.
In addition to her anchoring duties, Pat has appeared nationally as a guest co-host on the CBS Television Network daytime show, “The Talk.”
The veteran newswoman has covered some of the biggest local news stories, political conventions, and presidential inaugurations, and traveled internationally. Pat has reported on the civil war in El Salvador, the AIDS epidemic in Eastern Africa and Russia, and the first all-race elections in South Africa. She followed the works of a homeless painter in Los Angeles to the galleries of Paris and covered the installation of Pope Benedict XVI in Rome. In earlier years, Pat worked as a guest co-anchor in Brisbane, Australia.
Pat began her career in Saginaw, Michigan at WNEM-TV as a general assignment reporter and later producer and anchor of the station’s 6 and 11 pm newscasts. In 1981, she helped launch CNN Headline News and a year later was named co-anchor of CNN’s “Daybreak” program.
Before joining the Disney-owned KCAL, Pat was an anchor and reporter for Chicago’s superstation WGN-TV. There, her series of investigative reports on faulty Pap smears led to new health legislation in Illinois and shut down a lab responsible for many of those defective smears in Tarzana, California.
For her broadcast work Pat has won 21 Emmy Awards, including three for best newscast and one for a half-hour perspective on the 20th anniversary of the LA riots. Pat is the recipient of two lifetime achievement awards, which include the LA Press Club’s Joseph M. Quinn Award in 2004 and the Golden Mike for Lifetime Achievement Award from the Radio & Television News Association in 2010. In 2008, she received the Genii Award for Excellence in TV Broadcasting from southern California’s chapter of American Women in Radio and Television. Other awards include: a national Emmy; Golden Mikes; Society of Professional Journalists, LA Press Club, and Hollywood Women’s Press Club Award for Ethics; Chicago, Los Angeles, and National Association of Black Journalists Associated Press Best News Anchor Award; and the Edward R. Murrow award presented to KCAL news for overall excellence.
Pat has dedicated her career to community service, advocating for children, education, those in the special needs community and victims of domestic violence. She is a recipient of two Honorary PhDs from the American Intercontinental University and Mt. St. Mary’s College. Other awards include the Silver Star Award from the YMCA, and the NAACP’s Ida B. Wells Award. She was also one of several local personalities to carry the Olympic torch through Los Angeles in 2002.
Pat was a co-founder and co-chair of the Good News Foundation. The nonprofit built by five TV newswomen awards grants and scholarships to community-based organizations, “good news makers,” and aspiring journalists. During her tenure, the group received honors from the American Women in Radio & Television, Downtown Women’s Center, Central City Business Association of LA, and the LAPD Hollenbeck PAL Humanitarian Award.
She is married and has a daughter, Michelle.