Another TV reporter leaves Fresno station. Here’s her last day and where she’ll be next

Liv Johnson hasn’t lived within driving distance of her family for six years, which is a thing that can happen when you’re working as a TV news reporter.

Johnson is from Atlanta originally and studied in New York at Syracuse University before landing a gig in west Texas and then in Fresno, where she’s been on air with KSEE/CBS 47 since 2021.

On Monday, Johnson announced this would be her last week in Fresno.

She’s returning to the South to take a job as a general assignment reporter at WESH, the Hearst-owned NBC affiliate in Orlando, Florida. Her first day is Feb. 6.

“Moving to Florida is a really great move for me personally and professionally,” Johnson told The Bee.

Most of her family is still in Atlanta; her boyfriend lives just outside of Orlando.

Plus, it’s a great news market.

“There is so much to cover,” she says. “Breaking news, weather, politics, tourism. The team at WESH is amazing and I know I’ll learn so much through working with them.”

That’s not to say she won’t miss California.

“I don’t even know where to begin. The beautiful scenery, the amazing food. Fresno being in the middle of the state means we have access to the Central Coast, Bay Area, Southern California and beautiful national parks all within a few hours,” she says.

“I never took that for granted. This state and this area will always feel like home and will always hold a very special place in my heart.”

She will also miss the newsroom environment that KSEE and CBS 47 provided — and said it will be hard to match.

“I loved walking into the newsroom every day because it feels like family. Everyone is always willing to help each other.”

Johnson was in the news herself a bit last month and was featured in an article in Newsweek after a Twitter user left a sexist comment on one of her stories. She was covering a homicide.

“The sexism females face in the industry is unreal,” Johnson says.

“Whether it’s people honking at us from their cars while we’re out in the field, explicit messages we get online. ... I’m constantly told I only have my job because of how I look.”

So, she sometimes calls attention to people who make sexist comments because she wants people to see what reporters like her face each day. “But, there is so much more than what I can show.”

For those keeping track, Johnson is the fifth TV news personality to leave Fresno since November.

Also gone from Fresno airwaves: Megan Rupe, who left for WJLA in Washington, D.C.; Caroline Collins, who now works as a weekday evening anchor for the FOX station in Houston; Nathalie Vera, now a bilingual reporter for NBC/Telemundo in the Bay Area; and Corin Hoggard, who relocated to Minnesota to be closer to family.