Amber Lee: The KTVU Reporter Who’s Chronicled the Bay Area for Nearly 30 Years
Amber Lee has spent close to three decades as one of the most consistent reporting voices at KTVU FOX 2, covering everything from breaking crime news to community features across the San Francisco Bay Area. A native San Franciscan reporting for the station that covers her own hometown, her career has included one of the more notable exclusive interviews in recent Bay Area news history.
A San Francisco Native
Amber Lee is a proud native San Franciscan who grew up in the city’s Mission neighborhood. She speaks fluent Cantonese, a skill she credits to her parents, who immigrated to the United States from China and Hong Kong — a language ability that has directly shaped her ability to report within and connect with San Francisco’s Chinatown and broader Cantonese-speaking communities throughout her career.
Education in San Francisco
Lee graduated from Lowell High School in San Francisco, one of the city’s most academically competitive public schools, before continuing her education at San Francisco State University. Her educational path kept her rooted in the city she was born in, distinguishing her from many television reporters who build their careers moving between distant markets before landing somewhere permanently.
Starting Out in Reno
Lee’s first reporting job took her to a television station in Reno, Nevada — a market close enough to the Bay Area geographically, but one she’s described as strikingly different in character despite the proximity. That early experience gave her a formative lesson in how much local culture and news priorities can shift even between neighboring regions, a lesson she carried into her later reporting.
Building Experience Along the Central Coast
From Reno, Lee moved to the Monterey-Salinas-Santa Cruz area, where she worked as both a reporter and anchor, continuing to build her on-air experience along California’s Central Coast before eventually making her way back to the Bay Area.
Returning Home to San Francisco
Lee returned to the San Francisco Bay Area working as a part-time correspondent for CNN’s San Francisco Bureau, a position that brought her back to her hometown market after years spent building her career in other cities. She joined KTVU in 1997, a homecoming that began what has become a nearly three-decade tenure at the station.
An Exclusive Jailhouse Interview
One of the defining moments of Lee’s career at KTVU came when she secured an exclusive jailhouse interview with Raymond “Shrimp Boy” Chow, the reputed leader of San Francisco’s Chinatown-based Ghee Kung Tong fraternal association, who had been convicted on 162 counts of racketeering and murder following a lengthy FBI investigation that also ensnared former California state senator Leland Yee. In the interview, which aired on KTVU, Chow maintained his innocence, telling Lee directly that he made an easy target given his past reputation in the community. Lee has described the interview as one of the greatest professional challenges of her career, reflecting both the sensitivity of the subject matter and the significance of securing access to a high-profile figure at the center of one of the Bay Area’s biggest organized crime cases in recent memory.
A General Assignment Career Built on Range
As a general assignment reporter, Lee has covered an unusually wide range of stories throughout her KTVU tenure — from hard breaking news, including violent crime, assaults, and fires, to lighter community features and human-interest stories. Her recent reporting has included coverage of a disturbing anti-Asian hate incident involving a taser threat aboard a San Francisco Muni bus, break-ins and thefts affecting fire-displaced residents, funding losses at a nonprofit supporting transgender immigrants, a violent shooting targeting a couple on their anniversary, and lighter local stories, including tracking down a loose zebra that had wandered onto private property outside the city. That range reflects the day-to-day reality of general assignment reporting at a major local station: covering whatever the day’s biggest story turns out to be, regardless of subject matter.
What Keeps Her Going
Despite years of hard-news reporting and industry recognition, including awards from the Emmys and the Edward R. Murrow Awards over the course of her career, Lee has said that what she finds most rewarding isn’t the accolades themselves, but the willingness of people in the community to share their stories with her — a sentiment that reflects the relationship-driven approach she’s brought to her reporting since returning to her hometown market in 1997.
Personal Life
Outside of work, Lee has described enjoying time with family and friends, along with shopping and eating around the Bay Area. She’s spoken about being an enthusiastic fan of Chinese and Korean television dramas, and has described herself as a devoted dog lover.
Quick Facts
| Category | Detail |
|---|---|
| Name | Amber Lee |
| Hometown | San Francisco (Mission District) |
| Education | Lowell High School; San Francisco State University |
| Employer | KTVU FOX 2, San Francisco Bay Area |
| Joined KTVU | 1997 |
| Previously | TV station in Reno, NV; Monterey-Salinas-Santa Cruz market; part-time CNN San Francisco Bureau correspondent |
| Notable interview | Exclusive jailhouse interview with Raymond “Shrimp Boy” Chow |
FAQ
How long has Amber Lee worked at KTVU?
She joined KTVU FOX 2 in 1997, giving her nearly three decades at the station as of 2026.
What is Amber Lee’s most notable interview?
Her exclusive jailhouse interview with Raymond “Shrimp Boy” Chow, the convicted former leader of a San Francisco Chinatown fraternal association, is widely regarded as one of the biggest gets of her career.
Where is Amber Lee from?
She’s a native San Franciscan who grew up in the city’s Mission neighborhood and speaks fluent Cantonese.
What did Amber Lee do before joining KTVU?
She worked at a television station in Reno, then reported and anchored in the Monterey-Salinas-Santa Cruz market, before returning to the Bay Area as a part-time CNN correspondent ahead of joining KTVU in 1997.
A Career Rooted in Home
Amber Lee’s nearly 30-year run at KTVU stands out for a simple reason: she’s spent almost her entire career covering the city she was born and raised in. From an early lesson in regional differences reporting in Reno to a landmark jailhouse interview at the center of one of San Francisco’s biggest organized crime cases, her reporting has consistently reflected a deep, language-and-community-rooted connection to the Bay Area that few reporters can match.
