News Anchor, CBS2
Pat Harvey is anchor of CBS2’s 5, 6 and 11 pm broadcasts. She joined CBS2 after 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 L.A. County Board of Supervisors declared Oct. 30, 2009, “Pat Harvey Day” by proclamation.
Pat was awarded the prestigious LA Area Governor’s Award from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in 2015 for her body of work at CBS2/KCAL9 and philanthropic work in the community. In February 2012, Harvey was inducted into the National Association of Black Journalists Hall of Fame at the Newseum in Washington, D.C.
In addition to her anchoring duties, Harvey 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, 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.
Harvey began her career in Saginaw, Mich., at WNEM-TV as a general assignment reporter and later producer and anchor of the station’s 6 and 11pm newscasts. In 1981, Harvey 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 lead 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 22 Emmy Awards, including three for best newscast. The most recent presented in 2018, for Outstanding Feature Reporter.
Pat is the recipient of two lifetime achievement awards, which include the L.A. 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, Pat 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, 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 the recipient of two honorary doctoral degrees from American Intercontinental University and Mt. St. Mary’s University. In 2017, Pat received The Lillian Award for excellence in broadcasting from the national Delta Sigma Theta organization and was the recipient of the Bonnie Tiegel Angel Award from the YWCA of Greater Los Angeles. In 2015, Pat was named a Susan G. Komen Circle of Promise Ambassador to help in the fight against breast cancer. She has also received the Silver Star Award from the YMCA, and the NAACP’s Ida B. Wells Award. Pat was also one of several local personalities to carry the Olympic torch through Los Angeles in 2002.
For a fun fact, Pat sang “God Bless America” at Dodger Stadium in 2010 and later that year performed the national anthem with her daughter.
Harvey was a co-founder and co-chairwoman of the Good News Foundation. The nonprofit built by five TV newswomen awarded grants and scholarships to area community based organizations, established computer centers, partnered with the Home Depot Foundation to build a playground for inner city youth, built a library for the Downtown Women’s Center, among many other accomplishments. Aspiring journalists were also given scholarships based on merit and commitment to community service. 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.