On New Year’s Day, three CBS-owned television stations in California will carry something that hasn’t been seen much from the Golden State’s major TV stations in recent years: an investigative documentary report examining the inner workings — and dysfunction — of the California statehouse in Sacramento.
The half-hour news special, “California’s Fentanyl Fight: Politicians V. Parents,” will debut Jan. 1 on KCAL-TV Los Angeles, KPIX-TV San Francisco and KOVR Sacramento, on linear and streaming platforms. The program hails from CBS News California Investigates, a unit founded in March with the goal of examining systemic issues within California’s capitol. It’s part of a larger effort to emphasize coverage of public policy issues and to use the CBS News platform and reporting resources to hold Sacramento lawmakers accountable.
For CBS News California correspondent Julie Watts, her investigation into the legislature’s inability to address the fentanyl crisis raging across the state led her to meet with parents who have lost their children to overdoses of the synthetic opioid drug. Watts came to understand that parents’ voices need to be heard in the process…