Julie Watts

Julie Watts Consumer Reporter, Julie Watts Reporter, Julie Watts, Consumer, Reporter, KPIX, CBS,

Investigative Reporter

Julie’s investigative reporting has prompted FDA recalls, federal investigations and new laws to protect consumers.

Her work was recently honored with several prestigious national awards including a Gracie Award for Best Investigative Feature, Society of Professional Journalists SDX Award for Public Service, The National Headliner Award for Business and Consumer Reporting and two National Press Club Awards for Consumer Journalism.

The 7-time Emmy® Award Winner has also been honored with more than a dozen regional awards including Associated Press and Edward R. Murrow Awards. [Continue/View Demo]

Digital / Social Media Journalist

Julie is an avid blogger – chronicling how she uses the knowledge and resources she’s developed as a consumer reporter to navigate life as a mom.

She is also the founder of NewsMom.com – an outlet for journalists to share their relevant research and reports with an audience of parents that they wouldn’t otherwise reach.

With a master’s degree in online journalism, Julie enjoys storytelling through interactive online media.

She also prides herself on creatively using social media to enhance her reporting. [Continue/View Demo]

NewsMom Demo

From child identity theft to false advertising and toxic products, families are far too often the targets of scammers and unscrupulous companies. However, it wasn’t until Julie became a mom herself that she recognized the void of legitimate multi-sourced investigative reporting on topics related to parenting.

Julie’s NewsMom reports seek to fill that void on air and online. Over the past two years they prompted new legislation, were recognized with several national awards and brought national attention to important topics that impact every child in the country. [Continue/View Demo]

Julie Watts Consumer Reporter, Julie Watts, Consumer, Reporter, KPIX, CBS,

Meteorologist (AMS)

As an Emmy® Award-winning meteorologist at CBS in San Francisco, Julie’s role took her from the chroma key to the crumbling cliffs of Pacifica. In 2010, she won the American Meteorological Society’s prestigious award for Excellence… [Continue/View Demo]

General Assignment Reporter

As a general assignment reporter at KPIX, Julie thrived in live, breaking news situations and regularly covered national breaking news for network affiliates across the country. Some of her notable breaking news stories include the San Bruno gas explosion … [Continue/View Demo]

Interactive Reporting: A Social Experiment

This is not your typical TV news story. It was part social media and part old fashion journalism. The experiment in interactive reporting gave a voice to our our most engaged viewers and ultimately prompted change. [Continue/View Demo]

Investigating Child Credit Freezes

After years of reporting on child ID theft and credit freezes, Julie set out to freeze her toddler’s credit. What she discovered led to a year-long series of editorial blogs that ultimately prompted a new state law and this series of KPIX consumer reports. [Continue/View Demo]

Investigating Car Seats Chemicals

It began as a NewsMom.com editorial and expanded into a KPIX-CBS investigation exposing false advertising, legal loopholes and outdated federal regulations that systematically expose millions of children to concerning car seat chemicals. [Continue/View Demo]

California UN-Confidential

“Reporting this isn’t going to change anything.” That was the response we got from one of the largest state agencies in California when we first questioned why it was violating state privacy laws and putting millions at risk for identity theft.

When we first asked the agency’s PIO what it would take to remove the SSNs from its mailings, she laughed out loud and said “that’s not going to happen.” Three months (and several news reports) later, it did. [Continue/View Demo]

“TSA Cares” Making Changes Following ConsumerWatch Story

While you may be obligated to let TSA inspect your bags, TSA says it is not obligated to put your things back the way they found it.

After a viewer complained that their expensive instrument was repeatedly damaged when TSA failed to re-pack it properly, we started asking questions. We found TSA was not abiding by the instructions posted on its own website and convinced the agency to alter it’s official policy. [Continue/View Demo]

Is Xfinity Public Wi-Fi Hijacking Your Phone?

Most web surfers know that public Wi-Fi is much more vulnerable to hackers than your average private home network, but we discovered that Xfinity public Wi-Fi may automatically connect you to its unsecured public network without your knowledge, even at home.

We put the public Wi-Fi network to the test and demonstrated how easy it is to hack. We also revealed that once you log onto Xfinity public Wi-Fi, your device remains connected to the Xfinity network – even after a factory reset. [Continue/View Demo]

Supermarket Shocker

What began with a single complaint about an overcharge at the grocery store expanded into a nationwide investigation.

As a result of persistent undercover and computer assisted reporting, this series holds one of the nation’s largest grocery retailers accountable for disproportionately overcharging customers and violating a court order. [Continue/View Demo]

UN-Covered California

“UN-Covered California” began with a single complaint about doctors refusing to accept insurance policies purchased on the state’s ACA health insurance exchange. It evolved into in-depth continuing coverage spanning more than 30 reports over the course of a year.

The series exposed a widespread practice of bait & switch and revealed that state regulators weren’t investigating complaints or enforcing state law. Ultimately, this reporting prompted changes by insurers and forced action by state regulators and law makers. [Continue/View Demo]

“Filled” With Fear

When Chrysler owners told ConsumerWatch they were “filled with fear” every time they filled their tank, we began investigating a known fuel tank defect that caused the cars to stall on the road.

Public records revealed that the car maker assured NHTSA it would address the issue months earlier. Chrysler also told the regulator that it would pay to fix the potentially dangerous defect in each of the affected cars. However, we discovered that the car maker had not followed though. [Continue/View Demo]

Fool’s Gold

It began with a local complaint about a fraudulent gold buyer and expanded into a five-state undercover investigation that exposed a pattern of fraud and deceit within one of the nation’s largest gold buying operations.

As a result, THR & Associates was forced to shut down, putting an end to the company’s predatory practices in as many as 160 different cities each week. The company’s CEO is now the subject of multiple state and federal investigations. [Continue/View Demo]

Public Storage

In this three-part series, we investigated questionable insurance practices and security measures at the nation’s largest storage company.

Over the course of several months, this undercover investigation revealed that unlicensed Public Storage employees were illegally selling insurance to customers. We also compiled data that demonstrated the insurance company behind those policies was regularly denying valid claims. [Continue/View Demo]

NewsMom.com

NewsMom.com features unsponsored news, reviews and editorials for parents—written by parents who are journalists (not paid “influencers”).

The independent website provides a platform for #NewsMoms (& Dads) to share their investigative stories, instincts and research skills with other parents. [Continue/View Demo]

Special Project – Outsourced: Silicon Valley Students in India

In 2010, Julie shot, edited and produced “Outsourced: Silicon Valley Students in India.” The series followed 25 local high school students on an immersion trip to India.

“Outsourced” was named Best Feature Story by the Associated Press and earned Julie the title of Best Video Journalist/Multi-Media Journalist by the RTDNA. [Continue/View Demo]

On Air

Investigative Reporter

ConsumerWatch Correspondent

News Anchor / Host

Online

NewsMom Reports