NEWS RELEASE Gray Announces Opening of Washington, D.C. News Bureau to Deliver Hyper-Local Coverage and Analysis of National Issues
Atlanta, Georgia – February 2, 2015. . . Gray Television, Inc. (“Gray,” “we,” “us” or “our”) (NYSE: GTN and GTN.A) today announced that it has launched a news bureau in Washington, D.C., to better serve the communities in which its television stations operate by providing highly localized coverage and analysis of issues in front of the federal government.
Gray’s Washington News Bureau provides breaking news, interviews, and investigative specials focusing on federal issues, events, and people that are directly impacting the communities of each Gray Television station. The Bureau’s reporters drill down and localize national and international news in ways that only local reporters present in Washington can provide. As a result, the Bureau enables local communities to interact more directly and intimately than ever before with their Senators, Representatives, and administration officials and allows those policy makers to interact with their constituents back home.
Gray’s CEO Hilton Howell remarked, “All politics is Washington Bureau Chief Policastro local, even when it takes place in Washington, DC. The interviewing U.S. Senator Rob Washington News Bureau extends our commitment to Portman for Gray’s WTVG-TV in serving our communities by empowering a great team of TV Toledo, Ohio. professionals and partners to deliver the best and most in- depth coverage of the local impacts of federal policy.”
Kevin Latek, Gray’s Senior Vice President of Business Affairs, explained, “Through our Washington News Bureau, Gray’s news operations in 44 local markets are able to call upon a professional team of reporters who combine their talents and Washington contacts with personal experience working under the unique challenges and pressures of local television news operations.”
As part of its coverage of the President’s State of the Union Address on January 20, 2015, Gray stations were able to deliver more than two-dozen lawmaker interviews and custom news stories to the Company’s local television stations. This platform allowed lawmakers to deliver their messages about the President’s speech directly to their constituents, rather than through a generic national cable news platform, while giving viewers a comprehensive look at how the President’s proposals would impact their communities.
To lead the new bureau, Gray has tapped veteran journalist Jacqueline Policastro. Ms. Policastro has previously worked at Associated Press Television in Washington, and has extensive
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experience as a reporter and anchor in Indianapolis, Indiana, and Erie, Pennsylvania. Ms. Policastro created the DC Bureau for Lilly Broadcasting, and today the Gray and Lilly bureaus collaborate on a daily basis to leverage their resources to bring superior news coverage to their local stations.
Commenting on the new bureau, Ms. Policastro said, “It is thrilling to have the opportunity to be part of the ever growing wave of high-quality, hyper-localized news coverage that is redefining our industry. No matter where you live, what happens in Washington, DC impacts your life. Gray’s viewers across the country will now have more and better access to news and analysis on how the actions of Congress and the White House will affect them, while our elected leaders will have a new way to communicate with those they serve.”
The Washington News Bureau is located inside the NBC News Capitol Hill Bureau at 400 N Capitol Street, with additional dedicated newsgathering resources in the Senate Radio/TV Gallery.
About The Company
We are a television broadcast company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, that owns and/or operates television stations and leading digital assets in markets throughout the United States. We own and operate television stations in 44 television markets broadcasting 139 program streams including 76 affiliates of the Big Four networks (ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX). Our owned and/or operated stations include 26 channels affiliated with the CBS Network, 24 channels affiliated with the NBC Network, 16 channels affiliated with the ABC Network and 10 channels affiliated with the FOX Network. We own and operate the number-one ranked television station in 29 of those 44 markets and the number-one or number-two ranked television station operations in 40 of those 44 markets. We reach approximately 8.1 percent of total United States television households.
Gray Contacts: www.gray.tv
Hilton H. Howell, Jr., President and Chief Executive Officer 404-266-5512
Jim Ryan, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer 470-225-5406
Kevin P. Latek, Senior Vice President, Business Affairs 404-266-8333
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