That year, he received significant exposure as a field reporter for KTLA when he helped cover the Watts Riots live from the Los Angeles Police Department command center.

Fishman also worked at KTTV and KHJ-TV (now KCAL-TV) during the early 1970s, returning to KTLA on January 8, 1975, to anchor their evening new broadcast NewsWatch, later renamed News at Ten.

As a news anchor, Fishman covered numerous events in Los Angeles and the world, ranging from the assassination of presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, to the Sylmar and Northridge earthquakes, to Pope John Paul II's 1987 visit to southern California.

He, along with KTLA, was credited for being the first to air footage of the police beating of Rodney King in 1991, an event that sparked riots a year later when the officers were acquitted.

[6] On July 31, 2007, the night before Fishman became ill and after his last broadcast, KTLA celebrated his 47 years in television with a special gala at the Autry National Museum in Los Angeles.