WTAJ

Assistant news director Jody Gill is a horrible human. Will throw you under a moving bus. Has been there for more than 15 years and still cannot manage employees. Everything is your fault not his. He will not help you get better. This station has gone down hill so fast which is incredibly sad because it’s a great place besides the awful management. Again, don’t work here. You will not improve you will get burnt out.

An Overall Toxic Work Environment

The station is very unorganized and there is an extreme lack of communication. Quantity of work is worth more than the people and even quality of work (that could also be a Nexstar thing). Employees are under-valued up until they threaten to leave (because one less employee means less content), mistreated and given absolutely no feedback. Some people get away with producing no work while others are expected to provide 4-5 stories.

The things mentioned are NOT common in all newsrooms that I've been a part of so don't let that discourage you. It should make you wonder when you have two producers quit after less than three weeks and two photographers quit after only a few months (with most of the newsroom that is contracted wanting out as well).

The General Manager is respectable and does care for his employees, however, isn't directly involved with daily newsroom activities.

An Overall Toxic Work Environment

The scheduling of employees is consistantly an issue. They're often surprised when they're short-staffed because of multiple vacation/holiday requests, which were okay'ed, but not kept track of. That creates additional stress on other employees. There's a lot of turnover within the newsroom, which is normal at this sized market. The news director comes from Las Vegas and often over sensationalizes stories. The station has come under fire by the viewers for his handling of certain breaking news stories and it's led to many of the anchors, reporters, and photographers questioning his decision making. There's poor communication with his employees, which leads him to make last minute changes on shows, stories, and coverage plans, adding to additional strain in the newsroom. He lacks people skills. Conversations/Communications with him often leave newsroom coworkers/viewers with a bad taste in their mouths. Often times he comes off as immature when he talks about newsroom employees behind their backs, rather than providing critiques or constructive criticism to the employees.

It is a Nexstar station. Anyone in management sides with the higher-ups, so there's no feeling of support within the newsroom. What you pay for (or lack there of) is what you get. It's become a station that hires students right out of college and throws them on air, whether they feel prepared or not.

The lack of leadership often means that more duties fall on the anchors, who do try their best to mentor and give feedback to young reporters, but that puts even more on the anchors plates, which is already full.

They've low-balled talent and what's told to new-hires, as far as job responsibilities, isn't always the truth. I'm told that one reporter quit after a day because they were misled during the hiring process and other producers have said that what was told to them while interviewing was not the case.