Lori Matsukawa anchors her final broadcast for KING-TV

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Lori Matsukawa thought she was going to work in newspapers. She studied at Stanford University, which had no broadcast program, and spent her summers back home interning at The Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

But when she graduated she sent out over 100 letters and applications and ended up with two options: Take an offer to be a business reporter for The Los Angeles Times, or report for a TV station based in Redding, California.

She chose the latter, saving print journalism as a backup plan for later in her career when she would be, in her words, "old and toothless." But after about 40 years on TV, it's clear she found her home.

Matsukawa's final broadcast aired Friday night. The decision was announced by the station in May, about a year after Matsukawa said she decided she was about ready to retire.

"For the first time in 40 years I won an Emmy last year for this series on the Japanese internment experiences, and it was like a sign," Matsukawa told SeattlePI. "I had done this body of work, it was solid, it was something I could leave to KING, to the viewers of Seattle. So I could get up and retire now."

Matsukawa's Emmy-winning piece, "Prisoners in Their Own Land," was her magnum opus, something she had been working on for years, a story that hit close to home for so many Washingtonians, but hadn't been fully told. It described life for Japanese-Americans both in internment camps during World War II and after, and told of the ramifications of Executive Order 9066 from President Franklin D. Roosevelt that affected families for generations.

https://www.seattlepi.com/seattlenews/article/Lori-Matsukawa-leaving-KING-Seattle-36-years-13999430.php?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailynewsletterspi&utm_term=spi

[Aristus]

1. She will be missed.

I remember seeing TV promos of Matsukawa participating in Seattle Japanese Cultural events, dressed in a kimono and doing a traditional dance. She looked stunning.

She and Jean Enersen were the two long-time KING-5 anchors I liked best.

[customerserviceguy]

4. I used to live in the Seattle area

and I remember her well. I even met her briefly at a political convention in 1992 that she was covering.

Good work, Ms. Matsukawa!

[KT2000]

2. I remember her courage

she reported on people injured by chemical exposures back in the 90s - something every corporation and government insists cannot happen.
I am glad to see KING is carrying on with their stories about the Hanford workers.

[soryang]

3. Congratulations to Lori Matsukawa on her career and Emmy

Thanks for this thread.

With the hostility being generated toward North Korea and China lately in the media, I know there are some fears that this can happen again. The treatment of people from Islamic states and hostility toward Latin America immigrants is something other minorities view with alarm.

[samnsara]

5. i will miss her