Laura Diaz (TV anchor)
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Laura Diaz joined KCBS-TV in September 2002 as co-anchor of the CBS 2 News at 5 and 11 p.m. with Harold Greene and in 2004 Paul Magers joined her as co-anchor. In addition to anchoring these two nightly newscasts, Diaz plays an active role in a variety of special projects for CBS 2. She also co-hosts CBS 2’s Sunday evening public affairs program “Studio 2.” Occasionally this program is renamed “Studio 2- La Vida,” and it takes on a distinct Latin feel. She reportly earns more than $ 2 million a year. Her contract will run out by late summer 2007.
Laura Diaz is a native of Southern California and a first generation Mexican-American. She was born in Santa Paula, California where her parents worked as farm laborers. Her family moved to the Santa Clarita Valley when she was four years old. Diaz graduated from Hart High School before moving to San Luis Obispo, California to attend California Polytechnic State University where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. Her first job in television was at KSBY in San Luis Obispo followed by one at KFSN in Fresno, California. Diaz returned to Southern California in 1983 as a reporter for KABC-TV 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 Fire, the 1992 Los Angeles Riots and the Northridge earthquake in 1994.
In 1985, she began working as a weekend anchor and three years later, she began anchoring the 6 p.m. weekday evening newscast for the station. In 1997, she became part of Los Angeles television history when she was named lead anchor for the station’s centerpiece 5 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts. This promotion made her the first female Hispanic weekday news anchor at an english language television station in Los Angeles. Diaz was one of the original hosts of the groundbreaking Vista L.A. on KABC-TV, one of the 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 twice while she was co-host. Her work on Vista L.A. also won three prestigious Emmy Awards. Laura Diaz is one of the leading Hispanic television journalists in the nation and a seven-time Emmy Award winner.
