WPEC

An Overall Toxic Work Environment

I had a lot of really horrible things happen personally while working here. Management barely gave me time to grieve an unexpected loss in my immediate family. I was guilted into coming back to work after less than a month. I also had severe health issues that I had to fight to get time off for. I was made to feel guilty for not working overtime when I had medical appointments. HR botched my FMLA time off for health issues. And good luck getting time off. PTO was constantly refused because management was too lazy to rearrange the staffing schedule. There were also a lot of empty promises of schedule changes and anchor opportunities.

An Overall Toxic Work Environment

Sinclair is known for spreading propaganda and that is no different at WPEC. Must run conservative agenda pieces are crammed down your throat. Anyone remember all the anchors from the Sinclair stations reciting the same propaganda? They make reporters do it too. The assignment desk was replaced with a “content center,” which means anyone can be the assignment desk person. That makes for complete newsroom chaos. It also means that inexperienced people give the anchors scanner traffic to report as fact without confirming. It’s also everyone for themselves. If you are out in the field relaying info back to the newsroom there is always a mistake or miscommunication. You need to call 5 different people to make sure everyone is on the same page. There is virtually no maintenance on the equipment, computers regularly crash and wireless mics don’t work. You are expected to do the work of 4 people on a regular basis. The pay is poor and lower than the other stations. If you are on a contract and the station hits the sales goal you don’t get a bonus. Only employees that aren’t under contract get the bonus however, everyone contributes. A good portion of the staff comes from smaller Sinclair stations and for some, this is their first shop. The product shows it, with poorly written and presented stories. The reporters are stretched so thin because of their workload, sometimes they make up information they weren’t able to get. Many reporters and photographers have abruptly quit because of the poor working conditions. The assistant news director seems to have a chip on his shoulder because he isn’t the ND. He talks down to producers and reporters. If you are an attractive woman or anchor he may cut you some slack. Creativity is not welcomed and usually removed from the writing.

Look elsewhere.