Soul Witness

Sexual Discrimination, Racial Discrimination, An Overall Toxic Work Environment

This station is known for hiring a “token” Black person for on-air positions (reporters, anchors). Just one and only one, usually, at a time. The Black employees’ issues are always minimized. White employees get away with actions Black employees don’t get away with. Veteran employees are allowed to misbehave while new employees are punished. The station was already toxic enough with Bill as an assistant ND: he’s rude, he has a nasty attitude, he doesn’t care about your safety or well-being, he makes absurd requests for reporters, he comes in angry every day, and the station lets him get away with everything. Then, when Jessica was hired as ND, it got worse. She turned the station on its head in a bad way. She’s a cancer (and no, I’m not taking about the horoscope.) She is literally the worst human being I’ve ever worked for. If I ever ran into her again if she’s hired at another station I work for down the line, I’d quit. That’s how bad it is and how serious I am. And I’m not exaggerating. She’s mean, unreasonable, she has unrealistic expectations, she will call you out in front of the entire station for minor mistakes, she messages you constantly to nitpick everything you do, she will argue with you for extended periods of time when you address her about anything, she will NOT hear your concerns, she runs the station like a dictator, she gaslights, and she pretends to be progressive when she’s actually not. She handled a racist incident that happened on-air at the station poorly. Lied about diversity training. Yet, when Black employees come to her about being mistreated, she gaslights you into thinking you’re the problem. She will not encourage you in any way and only has time to tear you down unless you’re one of her favorites… and she has them. She only gets along with people who put their head down and don’t question her about anything. And she allows Bill to continue with his poor behavior unchecked as long as he co-signs her. So many employees have quit or plan to leave the station early or as soon as they can because of her. Almost every non-leadership, news employee currently there can vouch for her terrible leadership. Oh, and did I mention the gaslighting? The general manager is well aware of the issues with Bill and Jess but has not done anything to create a better environment for employees. HR will not help you either. This fish is stinking from the head down. Even with the previous ND, when a coworker made sexist comments toward me, because of favoritism, no punishment was given and they bombarded me with a surprise meeting with said coworker. No one followed up. Toxic, Toxic, Toxic. I went into a depression working here. Thank God most of my coworkers were ok to work with and the other assistant ND Clayton was a genuine man, because I wouldn’t have lasted as long as I did without them.

RUN! As long as Jessica and Bill are working at this station, prepare to deal with torture on a daily basis. You’ll deal with favoritism and God-forbid you’re a Black employee, your experience will be much worse because only the white employees and employees that don’t stand up for themselves get recognized. The only positive thing: I learned a lot as a reporter, they’re very organized, and I can now deal with toxic people in other newsrooms. This station needs a huge shift in leadership. I was literally miserable there. When I left, they were basically like “There’s the door.”