Joe Downs

FOX 47 News "In Your Neighborhood" showcases mid-Michigan through the lens of a lifelong local with the curiosity of a tourist. FOX 47 reporters are well-sourced and embedded within our communities to deliver more local stories on more platforms than any other news outlet. WSYM-TV is the Fox-affiliated television station for Mid-Michigan that is licensed to Lansing. Owned by The E.W. Scripps Company, WSYM operates MyNetworkTV affiliate WHTV (owned by Venture Technologies Group, LLC) through a local marketing agreement. The call letters stand for We Say Yes to Michigan. All local newscasts seen on the station now feature a separate graphics scheme and news music package from Lansing’s NBC affiliate WILX. With WSYM now being a sister station of WXYZ (Detroit), a half-hour simulcast of that outlet's weekday morning newscast has been added to WSYM. Airing at 6:30, it is branded as 7 Action News This Morning on Fox 47 and features Detroit-based coverage although statewide news headlines are included. Weekday edition The Morning Blend features a variety of community organizations, businesses, and happenings in Mid-Michigan. Lansing is the state capital and is the center of a three-county urban population of about 114,297. The metropolitan area, which includes four counties, has a population of approximately 534,000. The Lansing metropolitan area, often referred to as ‘Mid-Michigan’ is an important center for educational cultural, governmental, and industrial functions.