KOTV

I have nothing but high praise for News Director Chuck Maulden, Assistant News Director Kristie Webb and the rest of the management team. I have been at KOTV for 30 years and it's a workplace that is people focused and the managers go out of their way to help young reporters and MMJs grow their skill set. They offer encouragement, feedback and go out of their way to help employees find a good work life, home life balance. Our managers have maintained a high standard for journalism, ethics and newsroom decorum and those who can't meet that standard or are not willing to put in the work, will not find success in our environment. But those standards have helped create a history of excellence at this station and in this newsroom.

An Overall Toxic Work Environment

When I first started at Griffin Communications, I couldn’t have been prouder to work there. It was such a welcoming team with so many incredible, experienced journalists who took pride in their work everyday. The management team at the time was accommodating and understanding. They took pride in the product and made sure every journalist in the newsroom felt like they were heard and made everyone feel like they mattered. In the past three years, the reputation of the station started going down hill. The company went through a “evolution” period where they decided to make all of the long time reporters in the station MMJ’s (anchors were exempt from the switch). Many of the long time reporters had dedicated years of their lives to the station and market and were consistently breaking big stories everyday. They handed a cell phone to a veteran reporter who had dedicated more than 25 years of his life to the market and told him to shoot his own stories with it. They then proceeded to hire at least a dozen more MMJ’s straight out of school and paid them incredibly poorly — so poorly a lot of them couldn’t afford to pay rent or were living in unsafe areas in order to make ends meet. The storytelling then started going downhill fast because there were too many reporters, not enough time in the newscasts and there just wasn’t enough quality content for 20 reporters to cover dayside in a 60-something market. Managers would continuously say they valued quality over quantity, when in fact it was the opposite. In addition to having too many MMJ’s, there’s too many managers in the newsroom who all have different personalities and unrealistic expectations. I don’t believe the managers fully understand the expectations they’re putting on MMJ’s everyday because they’ve never done it themselves and won’t make an effort to try to understand what they’re asking of staff, then when those staff don’t live up to the unrealistic expectations — they’re punished and singled out in front of their peers. I believe the management staff at News on 6 is ultimately the reason why so many people have left the station in the past few months. The managers are very aggressive and unwelcoming. Their comments are demeaning and they act like you’re a burden for speaking to them or asking a question. I loved the market & had incredibly great relationships with people in the community, but my mental health couldn’t take another day at Griffin Communications. I wouldn’t recommend the station to anyone.

An Overall Toxic Work Environment

News On 6 is the dominant station in the market, which is both a good and bad thing. It's good in the fact that there's a lot of resources and content for producers and anchors. However, there's too many reporters on staff (at least 20), which means many of them often cover stories that are better left as pacers. My experience started off positive since I had the best of both worlds getting to anchor and report. That all changed when I turned down a promotion in the middle of my contract. I turned it down to be closer to family and to grow my career, but it felt like the news director took it personally, which led to a hostile environment in my final months. Todd Spessard, who essentially runs Griffin Media, told me I could sit at my desk for all he cares and that he'd still pay me until he didn't have to anymore. When I told my news director this he laughed in my face and said, "It's not that big of a deal." Todd and the other managers are known to lie to the on-air talent regarding newsroom opportunities and private matters that shouldn't be discussed. The constant lies, hostility, and lack of sympathy weren't things just dished out to me, but to my colleagues as well. At least three of my coworkers, who were all reliable and passionate journalists who planned on being in the market long-term, were let go or told to leave within two months of my contract ending. When we brought these and other issues to HR's attention, nothing happened, except that we were all blocked on social media by HR. Griffin Media (which owns KOTV and KWTV in Oklahoma City) prides itself on being a "family company." However, that couldn't be further from the truth in how most of the newsroom employees are treated. I'm thankful for my time at the company as it allowed me to be closer to home and to report on special projects important to me, but the treatment I received in the newsroom made me question my future in this industry.

Sexual Discrimination, An Overall Toxic Work Environment

The level of toxicity in the newsroom runs from the top down. KOTV loves having too many managers, resulting in having two assistant news directors. One assistant news director is sexist toward women and the other is an abusive bully. KOTV managers need to feel important in an “us against them” environment. Your mental health will suffer from the daily berating and verbal abuse from Kristie Webb, (one of the assistant news directors). But if you are one of her favorites, you’ll avoid the daily misery! It is only a matter of time before the management abuse results in catastrophic damage to someone.

Run. Griffin Communications owns KWTV in Oklahoma City and KOTV in Tulsa. The company prides itself on being a “family business” and “treating employees like family”. That was true at one point. That time is long gone. Griffin Communications cares about image, not news stories or employees. And be prepared for terrible health insurance. During the pandemic, Griffin changed their health insurance policy. They *lowered* what the company was willing to pay for doctor visits, specifically for females. So if you are a woman, be prepared to pay more for basic female health insurance.

*Dozens* of producers, photographers, mmjs, and even main anchors left within the last two years, for a reason. It’s unfortunate because Tulsa is a wonderful place to live with great opportunities to grow as a journalist.

Your saving grace at KOTV will be your peers. They are incredibly supportive and genuinely good people.

An Overall Toxic Work Environment

Without giving too much identifying information, the station has gone extremely downhill in the last five years. The VP of Content brought in an extremely unqualified news director who was not only bad at his job, but has been described as “evil” and the “worst boss I’ve ever worked for” by people who have been in news for decades. The damage done during that ND’s time felt irreparable. Now, Chuck Maulden is a good news director, but is still not allowed to make the big decisions because the VP of Content controls everything. The VP of Content is massively disliked throughout the newsroom for how he treats to and talks to people. He is notorious for playing favorites, and giving promotions to people who absolutely do not deserve it, while deserving candidates fall by the wayside. He also hires “friends” from outside the company to fill positions when there are many qualified candidates already under his roof. The people you work with directly are, overall, wonderful, even the managers. But again, they all fall under the VP’s thumb. In the past year, all reporters have been forced to turn into MMJs, plus an extra show has been added and doubled everyone’s workload. It seems like no one cares about quality anymore. It’s sad to see what was once an amazing station, fall into ruin because of poor leadership.

Tulsa is an amazing city with a lot of news to cover, and your coworkers at this station will be amazing! Unfortunately, that’s not enough. The newsroom has lost several great journalists in the last couple years because of the miserable environment KOTV is cultivating.

Racial Discrimination, An Overall Toxic Work Environment

The general work environment just dealing with co-workers was amazing. Upper management was the problem. They operated on a shut up and just do whatever we tell you policy. They were quick to talk about how poorly you were doing during a review, but all the year leading up to that no concerns were ever brought to light.

Your fellow co-workers will be your only saving grace. The rest of the newsroom is filled with amazing people. And if you happen to be a management favorite you'll be fine. And the city is great and packed with news.