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From the moment the horrific fires began consuming huge swaths of L.A. County, residents and concerned family and friends knew where to go to get accurate life-saving information: They turned on their TV’s or went to their phones and watched live, local news. Thank goodness there was no paywall to contend with but you know what was there — plenty of critical information that saved lives.
If you think I am overstating the enormity of the situation, just go watch Jimmy Kimmel’s monologue on his first night back after the first round of fires threatened Hollywood itself. His raw emotion and gratitude to the men and women of the LAFD, the thousands of volunteers and the local media will make you cry.
As I scrolled through some of LA’s local station websites from 3,000 miles away, I was transported back to 2017 when Hurricanes Harvey and Irma ripped through Houston and central Florida respectively. As the individual ultimately responsible for the hundreds of Graham Media employees covering these two monster storms, I felt a singular responsibility to support our newsrooms and give them every resource they needed to cover the storms safely with the compassion that can only come from being an integral part of the communities impacted. I could not have been prouder of the way they did their jobs and the lives they helped save.
While weather has always been a driving force behind the success and staying power of local TV news, the sheer breadth and horror of the ongoing