2017-11-07
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News Director: April Samp
Experience described as: “Driven, formulates a plan effectively.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Educational, Open to Creative Control
Additional comments:
“Great place to learn from seasoned, award winning storytellers.
Advancement opportunities are given to those who want to try new challenges.
Major improvements have been made to the station in the past 5 years.”
News Director: Sean McNamara
“He is brand new, no judgment. Literally just hired by GM”
While working for WDAF this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“People gossip and complain non stop. People randomly get fired. People get pushed out with performance improvement plans.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Management is mixed. There are some good managers and there are the spawns of Satan.”
News Director: Phil Buehler
“Allows his far right politics to affect coverage. Believes he is the smartest man in the room. Bad temper. Has tipped over a chair and kicked boxes in the newsroom while cussing up a storm”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Stress is handled terribly by management other than the assistant news director.
Calling in for whatever reason and you will be guilted over it.”
News Director: Mark Kraham
Experience described as: “Terrible”
While working for WDVM this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“The comments are right. The assignment editor is a horrible human being that is rude to everyone and is a snake. He pretends he is on your corner then goes behind your back to talk crap. The ND is a scatterbrain and also delusional. The GM actually isn’t too bad from my experience. This is really a terrible, cheap budget station. Barely any live shots (NOT READING THE PROMPTER I MEAN, REAL LIVE SHOTS) only one digital person, no real assignment desk, no police scanners, only one Executive Producer who is also the Assistant News Director. No room for creative growth, they are stuck in doing things in ancient times (haven’t won an Emmy in years). The ND is kind of weird and suspicious of everything even when there isn’t a need also people are spiteful. Oh and the shots from the studios look like a college kid project. The directors are incompetent at actually focusing anything. They are embarrassing but for some reason this station believes that they are part of the DC media market when they really aren’t. If you DO decide to do this def pick a bureau bc Hagerstown is a joke. Looking like a market 125 or worse. Good luck!”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Nope….i just say if you are going to take this you have BEEN forewarned….get in and get out. ASAP”
News Director: April Samp
Experience described as: “Inconsistent, vengeful”
While working for WOI-TV this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Samp fails to unite the team, looks out for herself and fails to follow-up on promises. Her personal life is a disaster and each day is dependent upon her tinder date from the night before.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Educational, Open to Creative Control
Additional comments:
“The station has been purchased and sold several times now, there have been several GMs in last few years and total lack of oversight to hold April accountable.”
News Director: Tom Yazwinski
Experience described as: “Tyrant Tom – The worst human being Iâve ever met.”
While working for KEPR this person experienced:
Sexual Harassment, Sexual Discrimination, An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Want to know what itâs like to go to hell? Welcome to KEPR. The most negative, degrading, unhealthy news environment youâll ever experience. Every other station in the market gets paid way more than every reporter at KEPR. If you accidentally leave a phone charger in the car, the ND will rip your head off, call you an idiot and cuss you out. Iâve experienced many newsroom environments that were all positive and know this is a bad one. Itâs such a joke.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“DO NOT WORK HERE. Stay away from Tom the Tyrant. Take a job at McDonalds. Itâs not worth it.”
News Director: Crysty Vaughan
While working for WOLO this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Managers do show favoritism in who does what. There have been times where a story could have been covered, but nope … let’s sit on our butts and let the other stations beat us like they always do. Even if you are going above and beyond, it won’t be appreciated. But you’ll definitely get called out for what you don’t do even if it’s once.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Please do not expect to make decent livable wages…the company is cheap and have no shame in it. Crysty has no desire to be the news director, she lacks management skills. She’ll much rather let the “assistant news director” call the shots. God forbid you pitch a good story, their ‘news judgement’ will say that’s not a story. YET, you’ll see that same story you pitched on the competitor stations. I think WOLO enjoys being #3, they follow behind everyone else and don’t take any ownership of those true enterprise stories. Please don’t expect to be critiqued in the good work you do either. Employees are super amazing, most have raw talent and great ideas, but are at the wrong station to express it. If company brings in new management then it would have potential, but as of now …. NOPE! Look elsewhere.”
News Director: Sara Howard
Experience described as: “Sara’s ok. The GM sucks.”
While working for WTVQ this person experienced:
Sexual Harassment, Racial Discrimination, Sexual Discrimination, An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“If there ever was a place where inmates ran the asylum, this is it. Serial harassers are left unchecked. The News Director is left powerless due to a cheap General Manager who has only succeeded to get rid of talented News Directors and promising talent. If there is anyone who keeps this place together, it is the long-term producers or long-time main anchor. If you have a choice between taking a job at a #1 station in market 130 and here, take the job in market 130 or pursue a graduate degree.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Educational, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“This station has potential. But the long-timers who’ve made a life in Lexington deserve better. They love the station. It shows. They’re the only ones who keep the ship from hitting the Titanic.”
News Director: Sarah Gray
Experience described as: “Decent. She promises a lot and delivers little.”
While working for WSAW this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“WSAW suffers from bloated egos. Mainstays in the newsroom do not pull their weight (looking at you evening anchors) and the GM is a joke. It was fun to see bright eyed young reporters come in and a year later be seriously considering if they’ve made the right career path simply because the expectations are extraordinarily high yet no support to reach them is provided by the team.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Organized, Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Boiling it down WSAW is dysfunctional. It gives opportunities to those who seek them out but does not have what it takes to be a place that someone seeks to ‘end up at’. The GM only treats the Sales team well, as that is his background, and either cannot understand or blatantly ignores the rest of the buildingâs needs. In fact, the building they are occupying is literally crumbling, but who cares since sales is doing well? News is over worked and understaffed, and Promotions//Creative Services is always last in line. In fact, there was a bomb threat at the station, and no one told those in Creative Services to come back when it was safe to do so. No one apparently thought to let an entire department know.
The GM often gets accolades from corporate for being the cheapest run station. THIS IS NOT A GOOD THING FOR YOUR EMPLOYEES AND YOU NEED TO REALIZE THIS. It is ill-advised to expect your employees to give you their best work but not provide the tools to allow them to do so. I am not saying you need new cameras, new cars, or new computers (which is what you have). You need to provide your employees livable wages and support them on projects to allow them to grow and feel that the work that they are doing is appreciated. How do you do this? Hire people who care. Replace the GM who can only see cash cows walking around instead of people and acknowledge the fact that the negative attitudes from main stays and new talent is actually affecting everyone in the building. If someone cannot and will not do what their job requires them to do, then they need to be let go. Yes, it is hard to find people to come out to middle of no where Wisconsin, but if you treat your employees well, then more people would want to work for you instead of scrapping the bottom of the barrel. Stop the ship from sinking and fix what is broken.
For positives: for those who work hard and learn from their mistakes, WSAW can provide stepping stones for well-rounded News individuals. You work hard, you learn a lot, and you must be careful not to feel burned out. If you can look past all the crap floating around, you will find that working this hard at an entry level station will provide you the tools to succeed. But the negatives things cannot be overlooked any more.”
News Director: John Haferkamp
Experience described as: “Shady, Liar”
While working for WSBT this person experienced:
Racial Discrimination, An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“I thought the W in WSBT stood for WHITE” – often said by South Bend viewers who are black. With the demographics of the city, you would think that the news room would reflect that, but they do everything to travel hours away ( i.e. to Michigan) to tell stories that don’t affect people of color, as opposed to talking to people in their own backyard.
The team HATES competitor WNDU anchor, Joshua Short who is a black man that went viral in 2017 for his Black Friday clip. They’re only upset because they’re barely #1 anymore since WNDU is more relatable with their diverse team, coverage and personalities on air. Editorial meetings are often spent bashing the competitors to drill into reporters heads to not enage with them even outside of work on their down time.
John Haferkamp is a shady liar who doesn’t care about the success or well-being of his reporters. When asked questions upfront about performance, he will tell them they are doing okay while planning their termination behind the scenes. He forces his team to create made up scenarios with no evidence to rid himself of talent who stand up to him. Very rarely are there people of color on the team, but when there are every few years, they’re all treated horribly.
He prides himself on operating a teaching station in a mid-market for students fresh out of college, but only allows mentorship for his favorite kids. Management follows his lead in joking about immigration and “ghetto” people. Their only audience is older white conservatives. It’s Indiana so it makes sense, but in the future, their #1 rank is definitely going to be taken.
They’re opposed to any new talent being better than their favorite talents. Never open to creative control. Never given any opportunities at the anchor desk unless you’re a favorite. This station is perfect if you’re a young white reporter whose only ambitions are to jump to the Indianapolis market.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Honestly, go to WNDU. If you want a positive fun environment where you’re not constantly put up against your coworkers by management, don’t go to WSBT. The only good thing about that station is the look of the product on air and the cute dogs that come in on the morning show, but even they’ve barked at the team cause animals know evil.”
News Director: Paul Alexander
“Is a dinosaur. A weak man who cannot make eye contact He lies and cannot be trusted.”
While working for KRIS this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“I have always known Scripps being a solid company with great stations, but, the recently acquired KRIS TV is nothing more than a “Hooterville” station in a backwoods, backwater’s town of the Gulf of Mexico in Texas, where the newly grands getting their first job meet the nearly dead’s on their last job.
First day on the job I get my camera and it is broken. They just got it back being refurbished and they never checked it out before I started my job. Major red flag. Handed off a cheap handheld camera that had many settings changed that the chief photographer had a hard time figuring out. Given a tripod with broken locked down handle and a plate that did not lock the camera. Given a stick mic that the cube fell off constantly. A lav mic that was with a permanently made XLR cable attached. Constant issues with the camera the chief photographer who was an unmotivated bad photographer who still shoots like market 1,029 not market 129 with 17 years in the business, felt threaten by me (And the only one who did not clapped when my name was announced among the new hires in the company meeting) blamed me as user error and would not fix it when it was the previous user’s error and negligence of equipment.
I never worked with a reporter and sent out to shoot rollovers and vo’s of stupid uneventful stuff that I asked if I can turn into an anchor pack and turned down. The desk would send me stuff with wrong address all the time to a bunch of little cow-towns. It was really boring.
After watching many company videos included all forms of harassment, I reported the Chief Engineer, the chief photographer who unwanted intimidating glares to corporate H.R. since the station’s H.R. manager is in Tucson at KGUN TV was never accessible by phone or email and only reached out to me the day after I left.
Most of the cars that I had to drive will fail a safety inspection with bad breaks, badly crack windshields, flat tires, check engine lights on and one’s catalytic converter was out. When I brought this up to a couple people I was asked, Did you tell (chief photographer) Mike? I said yea, he walked away from me. The response was, he is lazy he doesn’t do anything. What can I say, every station has a Fredo.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Got an email from news director Paul Alexander to call chief photographer Mike Salazar ASAP. They are ready to move on the job. When I spoke to Mike I asked, “What’s the shift?” He told me it was either coming in at 2PM or at 4AM Monday through Friday. He asked was there any shift I cannot work? I said, I won’t work the 4AM shift. The next day, I drove four hours for the interview. When I walked into the interview, I was immediately hired on the spot. Paul did not make eye contact with me and that is a sign of weakness and someone you cannot trust. In the interview they never gave me a job description. I told them I want to help elevate the product and mentor younger journalist. Paul asked, “What shift work for you?” I said, I don’t do the early morning shift coming in at 4AM and I am not going to work nights and weekends. I will only work dayside Monday through Friday and this was a deal breaker for me and I need a quality of life to meet people and have a girlfriend. I would come in early, stay late for breaking news.
After passing the background check, I emailed Paul needing to know about the shift before I report work on Monday. I have had some bad experiences that I showed up for a job not knowing the shift and get a shift I am not happy with or promise a shift and not get it in writing and not have that shift when I walked into the door. He would not answer the question and offered me a job without telling my shift. I made it clear what shift I will only work.
My job offer letter did not have the shift and I called and emailed. H.R Business Partner Katie Ford who works at KGUN in Tucson who was never accessible, responsible and lacks diligence. When I finally spoke to her on my first day, she told me we assigned people base on our business needs. I told her nothing has been assigned and reiterated what I told Paul and Mike on the phone and on my interview this was a deal breaker for me. This insensitive H.C.chic says, then you have to make a real hard decision when they assigned your shift if you want to stay or not. I said, I never got the shift in writing and if I don’t work dayside, I’ll quit.
Two weeks later, after 4 PM Mike called me and said, Paul put out the schedule and your scheduled changed. I asked what the shift was and he would not tell me. When I got back from my Vosot, after 5:10PM, I went into Paul’s office recording the conversation. I said, I need to talk to you about my schedule. He laughs says, “I don’t know. I don’t know how to answer that question.” That is your schedule. I said, what is’ I don’t know the schedule?” Paul says, “Okay Good. If will be coming out later.” Just caught him in a lie. Mike comes back at 6:20PM and I recorded the conversation saying, the schedule Paul put out, it’s going to be the morning shift. 4AM to one o’clock. If you get an hour break, it’s one. Again, caught Paul in a lie.
https://vimeo.com/frommyrighteye/review/373499323/0e82bd9868
I immediately quit without notice with no intentions coming back and drove four hours back home. Called E.W. Scripps the next day report my issues and I was told to call in sick. The worthless, unprofessional, H.R. girl Katie Ford who did nothing contacts me about my issues from days before and was clueless I left. I called or emailed sick using my 3 company sick days I had I accrued to get paid for the week. Gave written two week notice and never had to go back.
Any new hire do not take a job if you don’t have what you need in writing like your shift and if you go work there, be smart like me and record your conversations.”
News Director: Kevin King
“Kevin King is an easy-going News Director. If you do what you have to do and turn good stories he’ll be on your good side. Rarely gets upset with people, but wants to see hard news all the time. Easy to talk when you’re having a hard time, but be prepared to see nothing changed if you have a problem. The GM basically runs everything because he goes through him.”
While working for KSFY this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“This place is currently merging with the #3 station in the market and it’s been an unorganized mess since starting.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“If you’re not a favorite in the newsroom don’t expect to get any help on anything. You’re basically on your own the whole time you’re working. Need help shooting something you’ll rarely have access to the THREE photogs they have.
The only time you’ll get guidance is if they think something should be done differently. Every script has to be checked before editing. If they don’t like it expect them to change it to their own words. No creative control at all. Favorites are picked in the newsroom so expect MANAGEMENT to talk bad about you behind your back. If you’re doing well they’ll make you feel like you’re not. You’ll drive as far as three hours away for a story by yourself and back.
Everyone has one-on-ones each week so expect to be DRAGGED by the GM. He’s never put together a story or stepped in front of the camera but thinks he knows what makes a good reporter. The newsroom may have all positions filled here and there, but it is severely understaffed.
If you’re interviewing they will build this place up because it’s a brand new building with decent technology. You get paid pennies to work here so don’t expect to be financially stable. Overtime isn’t allowed here and you’ll be asked to change your schedule and still turn a story with less time. If you have mental health problems this place will make it worse.
Overall, Sioux Falls is a cool place if you like having nothing to do and like living small. They’ll say it’s an upcoming city which it is but won’t change for sometime. Person of color? Expect to feel out of place. The people who work there aren’t bad at all, but management makes life so difficult. Start somewhere else!”
News Director: Mark Kraham
“Mark Kraham is a news director who I believe genuinely wants to support young journalists. However, that mentality is out of step with the GM, Andy Wyatt, who sees WDVM as being capable of competing with the true DC stations.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Educational, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“The newsroom itself is chaotic, with high employee turnover, a general lack of direction and not enough attention or resources are given to the multiple localized bureaus, despite the instance that Nexstar is a local first news company. The split between the ND and the GM in terms of what the station should be is frustrating to say the least. Unfortunately, the GM is so out of touch with what is going on in the newsroomânot knowing who reporters are, not knowing the coverage areaâthat it makes it hard to imagine things will straighten out until either the GM or the ND caves to the otherâa reality that ultimately hurts both the staff and the viewers. I will say, the ND does make an effort to get reporters live experience, as well producing and anchoring experience as he realizes these are critical for people to move onward and upward. On the other hand, some former reporters say he tried to sabotage their efforts to land jobs at other stations in efforts to get them to re-sign.”
News Director: Matt Waggoner
“Doesnât follow through with promises. Clearly overwhelmed.”
While working for WXIN this person experienced:
Sexual Harassment, An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Micromanaging constantly slows down work. People hate one another and being there. Repercussions for calling out sick. Iâve directly witnessed women being treated differently than men.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Duopoly with wttv.”
News Director: Jack Acosta
Experience described as: “Clueless, directionless”
While working for KENS this person experienced:
Sexual Harassment, Racial Discrimination, An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“When you meet with the news director one on one he stares at you hard in a very creepy way. Very uncomfortable and I hated having to go in his office alone. Tegna HR is useless because they still have another department boss who kept his job after a huge investigation.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Open to Creative Control, Positive, Fun, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“The ND rules by chaos which is fun sometimes but makes the reporters crazy and unhappy. No consistency to the news coverage because what he likes changes from day to day. No philosophy or âvisionâ at all. Iâm not sure why Tegna keeps him there. He really has them fooled. He brags about how much of a âtight wadâ he is and it shows by how many reporters donât stay past first contract. He will lie to your face and then totally deny it. Turnover is all the time at KENS so beware and ask around before signing with that guy. Glad I moved on.”
News Director: Jeff Harris
Experience described as: “Thoughtful, inquisitive. Good guy. Pushes you to be your best in an encouraging way”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Organized, Educational, Positive, Fun
Additional comments:
“This place was horrible under the last news director, but times are different here. The photographers are incredible and there’s a lot of value placed on storytelling. This place is amazing under Jeff Harris. He treats his employees fairly and also values investigative journalism over gimmicks for ratings. We may not be #1, but I often see #1 and #2 following up on the stories we break the next day. We have the best content and news environment in the market hands down.”
News Director: Matt Stein
Experience described as: “He’s sort of odd.”
While working for WAAY this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“A station that is dead last in the market with barely any resources. Management expects so much with very little resources to provide to reporters. Of course, everyone pitches but it would be nice if reporters are ever assigned stories. Reporters (MMJ’s) are expected to pitch and turn two packages a day which is a LOT. Especially without a photog or given a story. I’ve worked at other stations that have assigned stories to reporters that are expected to turn two packages a day. The assignment manager favors one reporter that gets all of the leads on stories. Also, there are no photogs at this station. I still work here but PLAN TO LEAVE SOON.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized
News Director: Mitch Jacob
“He knows exactly what we need in order to succeed. Sometimes hard to read and standoffish, but overall supportive of his team.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Educational, Open to Creative Control, Positive, Fun
Additional comments:
“The station is on the rebound after several years of bad management and bad decisions. New management at the station is breathing new life into the stale product including doing more community events, more investigative consumer action stories, and making cosmetic changes like a new set and graphics. The station struggles with being first to breaking news and struggles with overall organization. While ratings have improved with new management and better decision making, the market is extremely competitive and no one station is doing better than the other in the demographics. There seems to be more chiefs than Indians and different ideas on how things should be. Overall, the station is a decent place to work and the newsroom is a nice albeit dysfunctional family. They need to get better organized in managing news assignments and expectations, and replace a few bad or lazy eggs to totally get back on track to greatness, however.”
News Director: Estelle Parsley
“She was an evil, vindictive, vile woman who made all who worked under her work in fear.”
While working for WRDW/WAGT this person experienced:
Sexual Discrimination, An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“The news director picked favorites and was well known for being biased towards females over males in the newsroom. She destroyed careers of those who tried to break their contracts to get away from her. Her demeanor was always cold, unfriendly, and unsupportive. How she has maintained being the news director for three decades is beyond me, since the newsroom itself is notorious for high turnover and low morale.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“The station is a dumpster fire and they are known to sucker young talent out of college into contracts they canât get out of. The atmosphere is catty and cliquey, and the morale is lower than ever. Avoid at all costs.”
News Director: Ed Reams
Experience described as: “Rough”
While working for WKOW this person experienced:
Sexual Discrimination, An Overall Toxic Work Environment
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Plan on it being a two year stop”
News Director: Matt Stein
“He offers male MMJ’s a higher salary than female MMJ’s.”
While working for WAAY this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“This station lacks a lot of resources. Be warned that this station has no photogs because Heartland Media does not believe in having photogs. Everyone is an MMJ with the exception of 4 anchors. It’s very obvious that this station is struggling financially because all the other stations in Huntsville have several photogs, yet this station has none. If this is your first station out of college, there is very little room for growth because you will be an MMJ for 3 years before you are ever considered to anchor. Also, this station only does 3-year contracts for MMJ’s which is a huge red flag. No one wants to stay in a starter market for 3 years. There is also a lack of diversity in management. The saying of “Black people don’t last long at this station,” is relevant. All of the black reporters and anchors within the last 5 years at this station never stayed for their full contract. If you are considering this station, you need to VISIT it first before you sign a contract to make sure it is a good fit for you and the company.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Visit the station before signing a contract.”
News Director: Greg Shepperd
“Greg Shepperd is the conniving control freak who has no news judgement. He’s a hypocritical micromanager with no actual skills.”
While working for KOAT this person experienced:
Sexual Harassment, Racial Discrimination, Sexual Discrimination, An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“KOAT is the most toxic work place I’ve ever encountered. They do not take your concerns seriously. Employees with allergies are consistently questioned and belittled there, regarding the severity of them. Even though there has been an attempt to alleviate the situation by throwing away a microwave and refrigerator, employees have had to leave the station because of allergic reactions and management have had to step in and complete entire newscasts. The white men in the newsroom are constantly targeted and our concerns go ignored often. Management hasn’t taken proper steps to ensure the wellbeing of their employees who suffer from medical conditions.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“The issue has gotten so bad, several times, people have walked out mid-shift, leaving the rest of us with more work. It’s a problem for months, and the new general manager isn’t helping the issue. Save yourself the heartache and drama, and avoid at all costs.”
News Director: Roger Gray
While working for KVII this person experienced:
Sexual Discrimination, An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Women arenât allowed to have a mind of their own in Sinclair. If you do, you are considered a threat. Either that, or you are considered bossy or ignorant. The typical way women get treated by companies like that. Iâm mainly talking about corporate and Guyanne Taylor, but donât even get me started on that guy Cory Bayle. Too chicken to talk to anyone other then other men.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Guyanne doesnât look out for anyone but herself. I know a lot of people have left this station because of her. Sheâs acts understanding and supportive, but when it comes to what she tells corporate, itâs a whole new narrative. The newsroom is being led by someone who doesnât know how to run a newsroom. Glad Iâm no longer there.”
News Director: Darrel Lieze-Adams
“Outstanding Journalist. Best connected news director I have everworked with.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Organized, Educational, Positive, Fun
News Director: Matt Templman
Experience described as: “Extremely toxic, run FAST”
While working for KEZI this person experienced:
Racial Discrimination, An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Management is terrible! You DO NOT want to work here!”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
News Director: Kay Norred
“Kay Norred is the absolute worst person Iâve ever known.”
While working for WFXR this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Iâm going to start this with a few very simple words: DO NOT WORK AT THIS STATION! NEVER WORK WITH OR FOR KAY NORRED! NEVER WORK WITH OR FOR ARIKA ZINK! Itâs really that plain and simple. Now for details. Imagine your worst day at work ever, and multiply that infinitelyâŚyouâll only come close to what itâs like to work for this place day in and day out. My best day at this station was my last day when I walked out of the gates of hell. Kay Norred is a walking definition of a psychopath and narcissist. She acts all nice and sweet as can be on the surface, and will stab you directly in the back as soon as you turn around. She has no consideration for your life or time outside of work. She expects you to function like a brainwashed robot. If she says jump you better ask how high or else youâll be off her âA teamâ as fast as you can blink. You call out sick and sheâll guilt trip you on the call. Then sheâll make sure everyone in the building knows how unreliable you are because you used a sick day. This is only the beginning of a very long rap sheet of problems that nearly everyone at that station has had with her. I honestly donât even want to waste too much time talking about the dumpster fire that the GM is. The only logical string of words youâll hear come out of her mouth is âfrom that viewpointâ and âfor that matter.â Most of the time she doesnât even use that properly! She knows about all of the problems that people have with the ND and does nothing about it. Sheâs swept so many HR complaints under the rug that she could easily be sued so hard that Nexstar would go broke. Oh and I should add a little tidbit about the feud between the Chief Met John Carroll and the Morning Met. Itâs been going on for 3 years. The chief hates the morning guy with a burning passion, and trust me, you WILL hear him openly talk about it ALL THE TIME. He has already had two great meteorologists leave the station because they couldnât stand to work for him anymore. If youâre a meteorologist looking for work, you would be better off forecasting for little league soccer tournaments than working for John and the station. Iâll close with these words again: DO NOT WORK AT THIS STATION!”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“I know itâs easy to think someone may exaggerate their experience. Iâm begging you, for the sake of your career, donât work here. You will regret it. Do some simple research. It wonât take long for you to understand that WFXR is not the place you want to be.”
News Director: Dan Fabrizio
“ND is petty and uninspiring, takes any slight indifference to his ideas as personal challenges to his reputation and the station in his short tenure in position”
While working for WAVE this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“MMJs not encouraged to do anything beyond following the ND’s line of what quality reporting is, regardless of how realistic or safe those ideas are. Any opinions beyond those are unwelcome and staff regularly feel uncomfortable speaking up.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Organized, Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Educational
Additional comments:
“I learned a lot during the time I was there. The production crew was wonderful to work with, they helped prepare me for the work force.”
News Director: Jenna Huff
Experience described as: “Indifferent- not seen much”
While working for Fox 31 this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“The toxic work environment is brought on by the news manager, Kerri Copello who runs day to day operations for the station. She single handily made every reporter miserable.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“The news manager, Kerri Copello is one to watch out for. She runs the day to day operations, not the news director. She will lie to you, be deceitful, and will be sure to throw you under the bus. She will tell one reporter one thing, then another person something different. When upper management cracks down on her, she covers herself with more lies. She takes the station cars out for 3 hour lunch breaks with her friends and doesn’t seem to care if another reporter actually needs the car for work or not. Kerri finds time to come in and see what you’ve done an hour before deadline and will change your entire day and force you to re-work your whole story last minute. She is a pro at coming in an hour late every single day and will make you wait for her to even start your day. She is the reason why the station is in a bad position. Kerri also does stories as favors for her friends in the community. If one of her friends is having an event that isn’t really news-worthy, Kerri will force a reporter to go cover it just because she’s friends with the person. She also does this to gain power and influence. Lastly, Kerri has zero news experience- she was a weather woman and they made her news manager. She has no idea what real news is and her judgement makes the station look silly in comparison to our competition. Kerri creates a terrible, toxic news environment and you can’t fully understand how terrible it is until you work for her. Not recommended.”
News Director: Brooke Rothenberg
Experience described as: “Very difficult in a way its like you have to kiss up to them to get what you want.”
While working for News 12 this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“The workplace overall needs a lot of work to do. Many of the managers do not know how to speak to their employees. They sometimes treat them as they are better than them and should feel lucky to work at this station”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Working there as a freelancer sucks because you aren’t called in as often. Additionally, very small space to grow if you want be a reporter or anchor. Easy for you to be an assignment editor or producer but you have to watch your back. They are always watching to make sure you make no mistakes. They will ridicule you behind your back to other employees. Very disheartening. The assistant news director Brooke isn’t as approachable as she claims to seem. Shuts you down often when you inquire for things or would like to try something new. Also, some of the colleagues are rude and feel because they have been there longer that they can speak to you anyhow… totally unacceptable. Good place if you are looking to gain experience but don’t stay there for long. Some of the anchors there need to be replaced. Don’t represent the network or community well.”
News Director: Mike Mickle
“The General Manager and News Director show very poor leadership. News Director is hardly ever in his newsroom and spends more time on outside obligations than his newscasts.”
While working for WHBF this person experienced:
Sexual Discrimination, An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“This is an especially toxic work environment for women. Men are promoted and favored over women even if they arenât qualified and despite seniority.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“This is a very toxic work environment. There are very few resources, the reporters are overworked and extremely under paid. Reporters arenât trained and thereâs no feedback, so thereâs little to no opportunity to grow. There is little to no leadership in this newsroom and those in charge donât take the best interests of their team, or the future of the station to heart. Avoid this station entirely.”
News Director: Victoria Spechko
“Victoria is one of the most amazing bosses you will ever work with. She is the leader of the team and has built an incredible newsroom environment. She will offer tough, but fair encouragement and really use you to your strengths while developing your weaknesses. If you’re being hired in the Florence bureau, Tonya is equally as amazing to work for.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Educational, Positive, Fun
Additional comments:
“This is likely one of the best stations to start your career at if you’re given the chance, or make the jump to a bigger market if you’re coming from a small station. The culture is incredible, the team is friendly. Everyone tries their hardest to produce the best newscasts possible and when they do move on, it’s to very large markets. Oh, and you can’t beat the beach!”
News Director: Lauren Weppler and Anthony Knopps
“Anthony was a nice enough guy, but was somewhat lazy in dealing with issues, and would often pass duties on to Lauren”
While working for WTOL this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Newsroom is filled with gossip, backbiting, and selfishness. Extremely rude, aggressive, and crass producersâone particular producer refuses to ever be wrong or admit to it, and was often known to complain or send management emails about people she felt âwrongedâ her, even though she did most of the provoking. Very âclique-orientedâ newsroom. EP would often chase breaking news with questionable judgment (vacant house fires, single-car crashes, grab-and-go gas station thefts). Snotty female anchor with ego issues, who loved shaming people over group emails.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Not a good market in general. Toledo is gloomy, dangerous, and cold. Youâll be greeted to an even icier newsroom if you choose to work here.”
News Director: Kelly Dickens
Experience described as: “horrible, not feeling worthy, not feeling like a reporter, no real help to become better. Just overrall not a great place to work.”
While working for WBND this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“It doesn’t matter if you are not from the area or the region, they expect you to pitch turning pitches that are hard news only. No fluff, no soft stories, not even for a major holiday. Feeling anxious when writing packages or VOSOTs. Raggedy gear and you will be blame if anything is wrong with it even if its already raggedy. Just a very stressful environment all around.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“I didn’t listen to the previous comment. They were right, it doesn’t have to be this hard. I should have went with my other options but I chased the little bit of money and regret it. Now I am scared to apply for other stations or even second guessing being a reporter. JUST DON’T GO!! Go to WNDU. They are great people, decent management and haven’t met anybody from there who is UNHAPPY!! Protect your mental and your happiness!!”
News Director: Scott Lawrence
“Scott is a nice man for the most part, but completely unfit as a news director. Heâs bound by his need to stick his fingers in the prime time newscast. All he does is write, edit, and research for the 6pm show. The other shows donât matter, and if you work for the 6, expect to want to strangle him for dictating to you exactly what you have to put in the newscast. If you work for another show, expect no help and zero fucks given about how your live shots go or anything else. My show went to black because of master control one day, and he told me âgreat show! Best one yet.â He didnât even watch. Heâs too busy with everything about the 6, he doesnât stand up to the toxicity in the newsroom. Heâs scared of the anchors, so now they are divas in a small market with a big market mentality and run the newsroom. They made working there hell, and he allowed it.”
While working for KFDM this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“I was bullied for being knowledgeable. An anchor disagreed with me simply because the EP liked me, and they had a bad professional relationship. I was screamed at once for noting quietly to another producer that I didnât care about the Kardashians and wanted to focus on real news going in my newscast.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Educational, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Fuck âem. My HR manager told me I was smart to leave. They were in transition when I started, so I didnât sign a contract. She said thank god I didnât and was happy I had the guts to leave. She apologized and said she was trying to fix the negative, toxic environment.”
News Director: Jon Levy
While working for WCJB this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“toxic newsroom with a pathetic excuse for management”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“The stories are all true. You do not want to work here!!”
News Director: Jaime Copley
Experience described as: “Horrible/ Toxic”
While working for KIMT this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Management at KIMT expect reporters to never take a sick, personal or vacation day. They pile up the workload and expect us to not get overtime.
The news director is extremely unprofessional. They will speak to everyone about you and how you’re a problem here without directly coming to you. There is no room for growth. This is a small market, meaning most people are straight out of college or in their first tv job. They use that to their advantage by making you feel like you will never be successful outside of KIMT.
The news director has only worked at KIMT for 20 + years. If you try to suggest doing something different of a new way to approach a story. She’ll try to embarrass you in front of everyone during the pitch meeting. The station is going through a change of shifting coverage from primarily Iowa to Rochester, Minnesota. Management (News director, news content manager, HR, etc) all live in Mason City Iowa. That means they don’t know what’s really going on across the border. They don’t understand how far some areas are from each other and expect reporters to be able to do two live hits about two different stories on two different sides of the state. They also heavily rely on reporters to become content managers and know EVERY event going on in the area. That means if a reporter calls in sick or is on vacation and we miss a story, they blame reporters and not their own lack of understanding.
Many reporters have cried, experienced anxiety attacks and even broke out into severe rashes because of how unorganized and toxic the newsroom is.
This is not a place where you can grow and be thankful for your experience. FOR THOSE LOOKING TO COME TO KIMT, YOU WILL REGRET YOUR DECISION WITHIN 3 MONTHS!!!!
If you try to get out of your contract they will come after you. This station is the absolute worst newsroom I’ve ever been in.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“The management staff is horrible.”
News Director: Morgan Schabb
Experience described as: “Hardworking, micromanager, unpredictable”
While working for WAND this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“You can tell everyone is burnt out and tired of being micromanaged.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Open to Creative Control, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“The ND will tell you moral is high, but I saw the complete opposite during my time there. You could tell without them saying anything reporters, photographers and producers were discouraged all the time. One went as for to say, âwhatâs the point, itâs going to be wrong no matter whatâ – yikes. If someone called in sick or used vacation the station wasnât prepared. I saw reporters and photogs fill in as producers. It made me reevaluate my career path, but luckily I interned at another station and that made me feel better about the industry.”
News Director: Kelley Dickens
Experience described as: “awful”
While working for WBND this person experienced:
Sexual Discrimination, An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Unsafe, cruel and deplorable working conditions, questionable journalistic ethics, no respect for employees, unpaid overtime, no flexibility, inconsistent schedule, poor benefits, poor working relationships within market, horrible reputation within market, many employees develop mental health concerns and sustain injuries…on the bright side, you’ll learn a lot and make some friends”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Educational, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Don’t be fooled by the market size. Start off at a a station that values journalism and its employees.”
News Director: Maggie Hradecky
“I have a good relationship with her, but overall she is very chaotic and unorganized”
While working for WIFR this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“There is a panic culture within the newsroom, clear favorites and lots of false promises. Management is unorganized, lazy and has no clear direction for the future of the station. Multiple reporters and photographers have left due to poor management and management bending over backwards for people who have poor performance. While MMJâs are encouraged to be creative and enterprise stories, that rarely happens due to ND. She is a control freak and does not trust a majority of the reporting team, so most pitched ideas are not considered and she hands MMJâs a story she likes instead. Content quality is average, but very little is original/not from a press release.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“The market gives MMJâs starting out great experience at covering breaking news, crime and learning all the aspects of a newsroom. Other stations in town have similar issues, but have better content, less turn over and more opportunities for reporters. This station has an anchor staff of multiple 15+ year veterans who are not leaving/retiring anytime soon, so moving up is not an option here.”
News Director: Jenelle Shriner
“When I came to KPLC, I thought I was done with news. But Jenelle brought me back in, gave me every opportunity and helped me to excel.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Open to Creative Control, Positive, Fun
Additional comments:
“This is a great station for a journalist to start out in. Youâll never feel uncomfortable or be put in a bad situation, youâre given a lot of creative freedom with your stories, and the ND is very hands on in helping you be the best you can be.”
News Director: Jenelle Shriner
“Fantastic boss! She is very nice, upbeat, energetic, and makes the newsroom a friendly environment.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Educational, Positive, Fun
Additional comments:
“Couldnât have picked a better starting point for my career. There is no other station there so it allows you to be more creative and try new things. Jenelle wants you to grow as a journalist and helps you reach the next goal in your career. Thereâs a lot of turnover, so youâll meet a lot of people while there. Local community and authorities are great and typically easy to work with. No station is perfect, but Iâm super happy I started in Lake Charles.”
News Director: Marybeth Jacoby
Experience described as: “Toxic, awful”
While working for WVLT this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“WVLT went about 4 months without a ND after the last one got fired because they wanted to make sure the next one was perfect. Well, they picked the worst ND and person to fill this role by choosing Marybeth Jacoby. Iâve never felt more beaten down working for someone. You could give your all to this job or be lazy, and youâll still be treated the same. Itâs really sad because this station has some great reporters and anchors, and the market is great, but management is so terrible. Too many people have left their contracts early while I was there and management didnât/ doesnât care. They donât see the problem, which is part of the problem. Management is all about egos too. When it comes to scheduling, itâs doesnât make sense. It seems like they say âhow can we make everyoneâs life worse including our ownâ and they choose that. This place is a sinking ship that you should do everything to avoid. I promise you, your happiness means more than this job.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
News Director: Jack Acosta/Deborah Knapp
Experience described as: “Toxic, Discrimination”
While working for KENS this person experienced:
Racial Discrimination, Sexual Discrimination, An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“KENS is not a good place for POC.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
News Director: Bruce Moore
Experience described as: “Passive-aggressive. Fake.”
While working for WREG this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Creativity and strong personalities not welcome. Fall into line. As he has told employees, âI control your destiny.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Ratings are an illusion. Now that Nexstar has taken over, just wait”
News Director: Becky Gardner, just recently left
“Never around, over the last few months a series of horrible hires and severely brought down the moral of the newsroom. Even if you do go to her absolutely nothing changes”
While working for KGAN/KFXA this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Like many newsrooms they are very short staffed but many of the better staff are doing the work that should be done by others. There is also no accountability. If an anchor changes a script and makes the script wrong itâs always someone elseâs fault.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“While there have been many bad hires over the past few months there is also many extremely talented people that deserves more credit. Luckily the news director is not there right now”
News Director: Anthony Knopps and Lauren Weppler
Experience described as: “Negative. Issues never handled. Toxic work environment”
While working for WTOL this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Management constantly doesnât handle serious issues. Some issues happening are illegal. Told to take comp days instead of giving overtime which is also illegal. You are in managementâs good graces if you donât standup for yourself and allow yourself to get walked over.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Under pay reporters. Reporters who have been there three years are paid less than several just out of college. The newsroom is crawling with drama, gossip, back stabbing, and lying.”
News Director: Dave Ciliberti
“Worst experience in my entire career. Narcissistic, spineless, corporate kids ass. Not qualified to manage a lemonade stand.”
While working for WCMH this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Toxic fits.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“You get what you pay for.
Too many inexperienced people that should not be working in a Top 40 market. Nexstar cares about profit and political posturing.
The Big J here is a Big Joke.”
News Director: Bryan Queen
“Bryan is a nightmare of a person. He has no leadership skills, constantly puts his staff down, openly favors men, has no communication skills, only wants to cover national news and weather, and facilities an extremely negative and toxic work environment”
While working for WHP this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Over the course of Bryan Queen’s two years at the station more than 40 people left. Some left without another job lined up and some of those people had families to provide for which speaks volumes. Person after person went to our GM, HR, Corporate, and each time was told to suck it up or that they’re being too sensitive. Bryan is constantly putting his staff down, never gives positive feedback, doesn’t understand what a good news story is, is unable to make eye contact or hold a conversation… I would rather be homeless than ever work under his leadership at this station again.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“If you’re thinking about working here I would strongly encourage you to RUN, fast, in the opposite direction.”
News Director: Darrel Adams
“Lots of feedback. Good reporters get photographers everyday and lots of live experience.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Organized, Educational, Positive, Fun
Additional comments:
“Our Chief photographer is an NPPA god and holds regular workshops. We get regular coaching in the building plus the station sends employees to NPPA, NABJ, IRE and special weather and producer training regularly.”
News Director: Tim Ryan
Experience described as: “Horrible”
While working for KVUE this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Management doesnât get it. Low pay. Favoritism. News Director really has no business being in Management”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
News Director: Iain Munro
“Leads by intimidation when he feels like he’s lost control. Praise and confidence boosting is extremely rare and feels disingenuous”
While working for KRQE this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“The air in this newsroom is so thick with gossip, nastiness and negativity that it could be cut with a knife. Employees who *should* be newsroom leaders, i.e. long-time, experienced talent and producers/managers, are the culprits. The ND does nothing to curb their inappropriate behavior (and has even joined in on it, FYI). Valid concerns from MMJs about how they’re being treated are ignored. No wonder so many up-and-coming MMJs dip out of their contracts early! Sad.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“The editorial meetings give MMJs anxiety. You never know what kind of mood managers/producers/anchors will be in — each day is different. MMJs are often told to leave the meeting and ‘go look around’ for a story because pitches are harshly criticized. MMJs then end up doing nothing until managers find a story THEY like and assign it, often at the 11th hour. Many times you don’t know what show you’re in until just an hour or two before deadline. There is no encouragement to be creative, coupled with an absurd obsession from management to get MOS for every story. #Unorganized.
Sure, it’s not ALL bad. You can definitely grow here. You’ll develop good critical thinking skills and learn how to dig for information. Because if you don’t, you’ll surely become one of the MMJs that the ‘newsroom leaders’ openly speak poorly of.”
News Director: Josh White
Experience described as: “Mixed”
While working for KAIT this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“My time here was mixed. Worked in production and newsroom. Should have already quit multiple times but I’m working towards leaving.
Place has fallen over the years. Lost two prominent anchors in less than a year. While most of the newsroom treats each other like family, there is some favoritism/gossip among co-workers. Very high-school like. ND micromanages and never unplugs, so be ready for that. Thinks a former employer who runs a blog is MAJOR competition despite that blogger plagiarizing our work multiple times. He also made me cut a reporter’s last story on her last day, then promptly fired her behind closed doors but the whole newsroom witnessed it. Because of this, I’ve turned down multiple full-time offers from him and have kept him at arms length while I change careers.
MASSIVE turnover in 2018. Yes, turnover happens everywhere, but we lost every reporter and had to start from scratch. Terrible hires who couldn’t do their job. New reporters who were hired after them had to learn on the fly. Lost both sports anchors so we had no sports on-air for two weeks. Forgot to mention that.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Organized, Educational, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“If you’re looking to get your jump-start, don’t do it here. Most new hires catch on to the bosses personalities and then start counting down the days until their contract expires. If you don’t get fired on your last day or get mistreated, consider it a win.
This place used to be fun but has fallen hard in the past 12-18 months in terms of personnel. Many don’t want to deal with the ND’s bi-polar, depressed, up and down personality (which he’s confessed to battling). I used to empathize with it, but I don’t anymore. I hope it recovers but I likely won’t be around for it.”
News Director: Shawn Venhaus
“Shawn is the news director simply because he is a yes man to the GM. He has no actual qualifications for the position. His news judgement is OK but his ability to act as a manager is nonexistent. He’s spineless, clueless, and unable to handle any kind of difficult situation in an appropriate manner. Once he realizes he’s wrong, he’ll just raise his voice or make false accusations at whoever has put him on the spot. I am not sure if there is one person in that newsroom that doesn’t have a stack of HR complaints against him, or respects him at all.”
While working for KFDA this person experienced:
Sexual Harassment, Racial Discrimination, Sexual Discrimination, An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Shawn hires only female reporters because he thinks he can walk all over them, and honestly just likes to look at them. He is backed by incompetent, “good ol boy” management from top to bottom that turn a blind eye to the ridiculous behavior that goes on in the newsroom. There was an incident of one employee sexually harassing and even stalking another employee- they called it “hearsay” and brushed it under the rug and acted like it didn’t matter, even when law enforcement got involved. This is just one example of the dangerous, inappropriate conduct they allow to go on in that building.
In terms of actual news coverage- you will get the minimum in terms of resources. When I say minimum, I mean you’re having a great day if the equipment guy hasn’t gone through your bag for no apparent reason and screwed up all of your camera settings. Other stations in the market will send 2 reporters and 2 photogs for huge breaking news events, KFDA will send a one man band and wonder why they got beat. This will usually result in Shawn aimlessly yelling and telling hardworking, talented people that they are terrible at their jobs.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“The redeeming quality of that newsroom is the ability to learn from Walt Howard, their longtime anchor that looks out for the young reporters to the best of his ability. Still, Walt’s presence and help can only do so much.
Amarillo is a pretty good place to work and live, just don’t do it here”
News Director: Rich Kurz
Experience described as: “The literal worst”
While working for KOIN this person experienced:
Sexual Harassment, Sexual Discrimination, An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Zero professionalism. No personal accountability. Doesnât inspire a healthy team environment. Depends on gratification of his âyes manâ co-managers. Misogynistic (either out of ignorance or just actually being a horrible human being). Criticisms aren’t constructive, and also doesnât take any critiques of his own work well at all. Laugh will haunt your nightmares.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Aside from management, people you work with in the station are awesome and some of the most professional journalists in the biz.”
News Director: Warren Stewart
“He is toxic. Changes his own rules to suit him. Creates drama.”
While working for WEVV this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“The station overall gets along well together. We work together fantastically. But Warren likes to stir up drama because there is none otherwise. People have left because he runs people off with his attitude and intimidation tactics. The stress level in the news room is at a high level when he’s there and a more productive level when he is not. He is trying to destroy the station from within. Apparently he has done this at previous stations. Our ratings are good but if he keeps on they will fall. Your opinion on news or what is news must be his or you are in the wrong. Constantly changing run downs, some times at the last minute. Criticizing choices of subject matter because it wasn’t his idea nor giving someone a chance to defend their choices and if he does your choice will still be wrong. Causing people to fail at positions just so he can be right.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Positive, Fun, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“There is no chance for creative control. When ND is in, the environment is toxic and negative and unhealthy stress in the atmosphere. Nobody cares for him except general manager.
When ND is gone, the environment is much more positive, fun and things run more smoothly and there is much less stress in the atmosphere.
If this ND were to leave or be fired it would be the best thing for the station. Because it was the best station to be a part of prior to his arrival. I hope new owners see this and make the right decision so we can be the best station to work at again and keep our ratings soaring.”
News Director: Todd Reed
Experience described as: “Visionary, Experienced, a Leader”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Open to Creative Control, Positive, Fun
Additional comments:
“Nexstar prevents this station from reaching its full potential. However the station was very creative at getting the job done. Great people power and
the most diverse station in the market.”
News Director: Ernesto Romero
Experience described as: “Abhorrent”
While working for KYMA/KSWT/KECY this person experienced:
Sexual Harassment, Sexual Discrimination, An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Unorganized newsroom led by a ND who lacks news judgment, lots of newsroom egos, no guidance and lack of journalistic integrity. Clicks and website views drive this newsroom – not the quality of content.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“There are great stories in this market (close to the border, lettuce capital of the world, crime, great features) but there’s often fights over who gets to cover the big story of the day. The ND usually plays favorites. If you’re not on KYMA (all the stations are under one roof) then don’t expect any resources or priority. KYMA evening shows are the ND’s pride and joy.”
News Director: Allison Coe
“Never got to, I worked for the previous news director”
While working for WATE this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“I was subjected to News-All emails from management embarrassing me, instead of just talking to me face-to-face about my mistakes. Going to HR about those emails was a joke because the guy isn’t trained for HR-related issues, he does the finances.
I had a co-worker post insulting things about me on his Facebook, and I found out because his privacy settings weren’t so great.
And have you ever walked into a newsroom and you know the staff is talking about you? That happened a lot.
Plus, I got constantly overlooked for other opportunities.
What ultimately made me leave is (after working there for 2 years) when I learned my father got diagnosed with a serious, debilitating disease and I told the then-news director, he only gave me a 1-800 number to call. No, “I’m sorry” no compassion, no thanks.
How do you expect to retain employees when you can’t be sympathetic when devastating personal news strikes their families?
I realized I deserved better, so I left.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Apply to the NBC-Affiliate. Don’t go here.”
News Director: Galean Stewart
“Produced newscasts”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Organized, Educational, Open to Creative Control, Positive, Fun
Additional comments:
“Love this station”
News Director: April Samp
While working for WOI-TV this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“As long as April Samp is ND WOI-TV, DON’T WORK THERE! She will promise you many things during the interviewing process but it’s all a SCAM. Reporters who were promised photogs for live shots were sent to breaking news and other normal live shots (ALONE).
The station is so bad … reporters, photogs and editors have decided to leave ahead of time.
There are many unorganized newsrooms but this is one of the worst.
The ND cannot run an efficient editorial meeting, she will lash out at you when you least expect it. Even when the ND is there her mind is barely present – she has her EP pick up all her slack (which is why her EP is miserable).
The station is last in the market which is why the newsroom is so toxic. People in the community and from the competion do not take WOI reporter, photogs – serious.
BE VERY CAUTIOUS ABOUT APPLYING OR TAKING A CALL FROM THE ND – She may seem nice but once she locks you in , you are screwed.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
News Director: Rick Gall
Experience described as: “Overall positive”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Organized, Educational, Positive, Fun
Additional comments:
“WRAL exudes and demands professionalism, expects creativity, is open to ideas during editorial meetings, and has some of the best technology in the world. Yet, it allows people to have a life work balance (but don’t get me wrong it can be very demanding) and is like a family. Anchors and reporters move down from the top 10 markets to work here. During major events, you may expected to travel across the USA, overseas, and work 12 hour shifts during hurricanes or ice storms. Everyone is on board no matter what they do. You have a call back to WRAL you can consider yourself achieved.”
News Director: “It changes every few months”
While working for KDLT this person experienced:
“mostly nice + hardworking people to work with, but management is perfectly happy being in last place”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized
Additional comments:
“people warned me to not come to this station. i didn’t listen….don’t make the same mistake. turnover is high and pay is low for a reason.”
News Director: No one. Was Mike Rausch
Experience described as: “The worst ever”
While working for KRDO this person experienced:
Sexual Harassment, Sexual Discrimination, An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Good riddance is all I have to say. Former News Director Mike Rausch was fired as well as former Assistant News Director Cindy Dixon after the station hired a number of sexual predators.
Michael Troy was recently let go after it turned out that he was arrested previously for failing to register as a sex offender. Moreover, the current Executive Producer was fired from WKGN for showing pornography to his employees at his previous job.
The bad apples are finally leaving but their time here at KRDO has left a tremendous stain. We have become a laughing stock of epic proportions. Thanks, Mike.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Hopefully it gets better with the new ND”
News Director: Sarah Truitt
Experience described as: “Terrible”
While working for WMDT this person experienced:
Sexual Harassment, Racial Discrimination, Sexual Discrimination, An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Very toxic, ran like a high school lunch room.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Educational, Open to Creative Control, Negative, Toxic
News Director: Patience Hettrick
Experience described as: “HORRIBLE. She is very condescending and picks favorites. She is catty”
While working for Western Mass News this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“The news director will constantly cut you down, belittle you and talk down to you. She is catty and pits reporters against each other. No one supports you and your ideas. They care about quantity over quality of stories. It’s very unorganized too.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“I would stay away. The news director will never leave because she’s close friends with the regional manager but she is toxic.”
News Director: David Williams
“He was not the news director when I was there”
While working for KCBD this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Was very politically biased (extra conservative).”
News Director: Ernesto Romero
Experience described as: “Abhorrent and unprofessional”
While working for KYMA/KSWT/KECY this person experienced:
Sexual Harassment, An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Ernesto is a nice person, but only as a person. For him, there’s no boundaries. Texts and emails early in the morning and late at night. Often times he is missing in action in the newsroom. You are frequently wrong, but he never is. Absolutely unable to make quick decisions and more times than not, plays favorites. Upper management even turns a blind eye to his horrible behavior – but ratings and web views always does well, so he gets credit. He made a move on me outside of work and it was majorly uncomfortable ever since. Worst two years of my life.
Don’t even think about asking for your equipment to be fixed (when it often breaks) or you’ll get all the blame. Very unorganized. If you’re strong-willed, independent, and pay no mind to the drama he creates, then you’ll succeed. Otherwise, this newsroom is absolutely toxic.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Can’t really say anything positive about this newsroom except the tight relationships made with other people in the newsroom. But, there are some with major egos – they are fueled even more by the News Director. Everyone says it’s not a competition, but you’ll find yourself all competing and fighting to get the top stories and coverage. Usually agendas/plans for news coverage for big events (President’s visit, Press Conferences) is last-minute. The station has NBC, CBS, ABC, Telemundo, and FOX all under the same roof… but all the company’s resources goes into the NBC’s 5 & 6pm shows. If you’re not on those shows, then don’t expect to be a priority. Not worth it for the amount of time you’ll bust your butt to work.”
News Director: Ed Trauschke
Experience described as: “Horrible. He treats his employees like dirt, is extremely unapproachable and misogynistic.”
While working for WNCN this person experienced:
Sexual Harassment, Sexual Discrimination, An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“I was sexually harassed by a photographer and the station forced me to work with him after they had knowledge of the situation. After I filed a complaint I was told I couldnât wear certain dresses other reporters and anchors wore. Iâve been disrespected, talked down to, and lied to. This is by far the most toxic place Iâve ever worked. I wouldnât recommend this station to my worst enemy.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
News Director: Monika Diaz
Experience described as: “Terrible, stressful, demeaning, unwilling to compromise, not understanding, rude, took advantage of employee’s willingness and nice demeanor”
While working for KTXL this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“This was the worst job I’ve ever had. The overall work environment was toxic and hostile. Employees in the newsroom were incredibly cliquey, rude, belittling, unhappy and demanding. The station is poorly run — and upper management does not handle employee complaints and concerns well. I was treated with complete disrespect by the news director and others. The newsroom is incredibly toxic — producers vs. everyone else. It was an absolutely terrible place to work and if you’re thinking about working there — I’d run the other way. As a young, eager journalist, I was walked all over and threatened when I wanted to quit. It was a soul-crushing experience and nearly ruined my perception of television news. Terrible management and a lot of terrible employees. Management has no clue of the environment in the newsroom — and fails to change the hostility and toxicity. Would not recommend.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Avoid at all costs”
News Director: Tom Henderson
“He comes off as a very nice guy, but will ask you to do something that could kill your career without blinking. Do NOT let him talk you into doing that on any story.”
While working for WTVC this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“ND Tom Henderson is as emotionally stable as someone with bi-polar disorder, meaning you never know what you’re going to get. Ass. ND Shannon Millsaps is often at a loss for what is happening, as well as when and why, which is frustrating because she also works the assignment desk. Managing Editor Latricia Thomas is the most knowledgeable news person there, but she knows it and is not afraid to rub it in your face everyday. Together those three kill morale, confidence and creativity.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized
Additional comments:
“Chattanooga is such a great city, but as long as those three are running things, steer clear of WTVC NewsChannel 9.”
News Director: Jeff Nelson
“Up and down. He was a good leader when it came to calling the shots and making sure everyone understood what was expected of them, but there was a severe lack of transparency, and a recurring theme of playing favorites.”
While working for WDAY this person experienced:
Sexual Discrimination, An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“The station is pretty strict about the employees’ appearances, especially pertaining to the women. Whether on air or off air, it was not uncommon for people in power to make comments about people’s clothing in front of large groups of people without pulling them aside.
It often felt like voicing concerns and opinions would not result in any change, which was pretty frustrating. There was not a lot of grace for mistakes, there was almost zero learning curve. More than once, employees were fired without much indication that anything was wrong in the first place…people were let go without being given any notice or proper training to improve.
I was usually treated pretty well, but I noticed some other employees being picked on or given far less credit than they deserved. I can recall quite a few moments where reporters would pitch great ideas, only to have their pitches passed on to other reporters who seemed to receive more opportunities without working hard or keeping their egos in check. This contributed to some competition between employees, and didn’t make for a great team-oriented environment.
Some employees were given ample opportunity for training, promos, and perks, while others were often ignored or required to work during training sessions/meetings with consultants.
The largest problem, however, was a lack of transparency. A lot of lies were spread, and it left a lot of employees feeling anxious and uncertain about their future with the station. There was never a solid stream of feedback, and a lot of ideas were shot down when they could have moved the station forward.
Many employees would attribute the toxic environment to Forum Communications’ owner and GM rather than the news director–it was obvious that the news director was not able to answer some of the questions and concerns voiced by employees.
Overall, the higher-ups in the company would not respond to concerns, shut down employee suggestions, and made drastic decisions with minimal explanation.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Organized, Educational, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“If you’re a woman, expect to be told how to wear your hair, makeup, etc (although this seems pretty standard with a lot of stations). Be prepared to stand up for yourself when it comes to overtime.
The coverage is very saturated in specific portions of the viewing area that upsets viewers and does not serve them the content they deserve.
There are some VERY good, kind, loyal, hard-working people who work at this station, but the environment can often pit employees against each other and put workers in a tough spot.
Every station has its ups and downs, but I would NOT recommend it to any of my friends working in TV.”
News Director: Greg Retsinas
Experience described as: “Juryâs out”
While working for KGW this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“We are waiting to see what Greg does with this team. Heâs very sharp. Most of us are breathing a sigh of relief the AND was passed over. Heâs all about himself and constantly throws people under the bus to advance himself.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Open to Creative Control
Additional comments:
“It was once great. We are hoping Greg can make KGW great again”
News Director: Sarah Zak
“Sarah has a good news mind and is open to new ideas. However, my biggest issue with her is a lack of honesty and directness. She is also incapable of making a decision and sticking with it. I never knew where I stood with her, and as an employee it was very frustrating.”
While working for WFTX this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“The GM is a micro manager, ND and Assistant ND are his puppets. Burnout is a major, major factor. Whenever employees bring these concerns to management, the GM and news director become defensive.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“I was a bureau reporter there for three and a half years. Gradually, they kept sending me out of my county to cover stories. When I asked them if I could just move up to the main station, the news director never gave me a straight answer.
Whether you are dayside or nightstide, you’ll be expected to shoot two separate look lives, write your web story, an extra vo/sot for the morning show (pointless) and leave an extensive note for the assignment editor about how your story turned out.
My biggest beef was the lack of honesty and transparency from management. Both the news director and assistant news director operate in a very passive aggressive manner.
Whether it’s your first, second or third job – I warn you use extreme caution while considering this station.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized
News Director: Keith Weiss
Experience described as: “Very nice man, but very unorganized”
While working for WCYB this person experienced:
Sexual Harassment
“The “media manager” Joe Gragg is a creep. Women should STAY AWAY from him. He will make inappropriate comments on your looks and outfits. He will also tell stories that he thinks are “funny” from the “old days” but are obviously degrading to women and minorities.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized
Additional comments:
“The ND, Keith Weiss, is very kind but also manipulative which you won’t see coming because he tries to act like your best friend. He will overwork you until you say something, and if you don’t say anything he will run you ragged. He’s very disorganized and doesn’t act like the boss. He gets pushed around by his Assignment Editor who comes from newspaper and treats TV like the paper. The station is a legacy station and is #1 in the market but is barely holding on. The #2 station, WJHL, will probably take the #1 spot in the next year. MMJ’s rarely get to go LIVE. When one person leaves the station it can take up to two years for the ND to replace them because he drags his feet when hiring. This means the station is always short-staffed and resources are strained. You will get little to no feedback from management. I recommend shadowing the anchors, they are a wealth of knowledge. This is market 102, but WCYB acts like market 152. WJHL has a better shop but has a tougher ND. This is a starter market, and these problems come along with markets this size. You just have to seize every opportunity you get to make the most of a crapy station.”
News Director: Dan Wilson
“Awkward individual, hides in his office and only spends time talking to his favorites”
While working for KPHO/KTVK this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“For those who want to work in Phoenix, I highly recommend not coming to the stations. I find it funny that both of the stations’ brandings are “Arizona’s Family,” which is far from the truth. The newsroom is extremely understaffed. In the last year alone, we lost almost the entire sports department, 3 veteran reporters, a ton of photogs and producers that I lost count. The newsroom is very toxic. The managers love to pick their favorites and give them either a promotion or the best stories. If you are not a favorite, the managers will make your life a living hell. In the last year, we also replaced veteran journalists for young, cheaper talent. Some of the hired talent only worked in one market prior to the Phoenix move. Many of the newer talent have little to no Arizona connection and it shows.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Since this current management has taken over the newsroom, 3TV has lost its spark it used to have before the merger with CBS 5. Many of our newscasts are so unwatchable now. There isn’t a lot of station get togethers like they were in the past. Our ND Dan Wilson loves to leave many staffers in the dark when it comes to station news/issues (if a staff member was fired, openings, new newscasts, etc)”
News Director: Matt Griffin
“He is a good leader who knows the community well but you need to ask him for feedback often if you want it”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Educational, Positive, Fun
Additional comments:
“You will learn more at KXII than most places. The anchors will absolutely tear apart your scripts and ask a lot of questions, but you learn very quickly how to be a good reporter and tell a thorough story. It’s also a great community with a growing population (which brings a lot of stories), only 50 minutes from Dallas, and mostly kind, funny and understanding people in the newsroom (with the exception of one or two personalities). Ask for feedback, learn everything you can, and be respectful, and you will learn more than you thought possible for a first job. I would recommend working for KXII and it is also a great start to jump higher!!”
News Director: Mike Rausch
Experience described as: “Painful”
While working for KRDO this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Mike Rausch is getting fired. Praise Jesus. The more I worked with him, the more I realized how mentally unstable and petty the man really is.
When he was the News Director of KATU, he filed a police report because a satirical website made a parody of one of his reporters. Furthermore, he even filed a hate crime report to the FBI.
Over. A. Joke.
And that is what Rausch has been throughout his career — a joke. Let’s see. Ratings are down, morale is down, he forced our beloved Executive Producer Natalie to quit and replaced her with a known sexual predator. There is no way Rausch couldn’t have known that unless he is very incompetent…oh wait…yes he is.
Mike and his yes men minions are finally getting booted out of KRDO.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Working here really damaged my love for the news industry.”
News Director: Mike Rausch
Experience described as: “The Sinking Tower of Pisa”
While working for KRDO this person experienced:
Sexual Harassment, An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“From false accusations to belittling employees and violating laws, Mike Rausch has left an incredible stench here at KRDO.
The good news is that he was forced to resign relatively recently. Cindy Dixon, once our extremely useless Assistant News Director, was also canned.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Next step is to remove Matthew Zelkind…”
News Director: No news director
While working for WBNS this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“The meteorologist, Ashlee Baracy, is verbally abusive to employees.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Educational
While working for WFMY this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“In the corporate hub the manager is the absolute worst. He let’s his “friends” do whatever they want including doing nothing. If you weren’t hus “friend” you had to pick up the work they didn’t do.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Organized
News Director: Linda Miele
While working for WHDH this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“WHDH has no interest in doing anything other than what it’s always done. That is, if it’s flashy, it goes on the air. Of course, most WHDH stories get on the air after WBZ and WCVB got to them first, but then news director Linda Miele has the station beat the story into the ground until it feels like WHDH has the exclusive. Seriously, all they care about is flashy and glitzy content. WHDH clings so heavily to tabloid fodder that at first it seems like it’s a joke. There are no new ideas, Robert Kraft is a hero, and god forbid you make a suggestion to do something differently or criticize the crummy coverage and/or news practices. This is a company full of lazy yes-men (and women) who are so comfortable they’d rather peddle crud than be uncomfortable. They push out talented people and promote the dregs. Just the worst.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
News Director: Sean Mahon
“He does not know how to manage people and really doesn’t ever know what’s going on. He can be nice and has good news judgement when he’s participating. He gets over-involved a lot.”
While working for WWTV this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Everyone complains constantly. People will talk about each other behind their back every day. No one has a positive attitude. It’s not a team atmosphere. Everyone is out to get each other and cover their own butts. People will tear you down and talk about you.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Open to Creative Control, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“The station is privately owned, which is nice and there are fantastic perks and benefits to work here, like vacation days and overtime. There are some kind people here but the general environment is dog eat dog and depressing.”
News Director: Ernesto Romero
Experience described as: “Abhorrent.”
While working for KYMA/KSWT/KECY this person experienced:
Sexual Harassment, An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Ernesto is a nice person, but only as a person. As a “boss,” he will drive you completely insane. It’s really terrible when you’re more professional than your own boss but that’s how it works with Ernesto. He delegates and never really contributes to the newsroom (unless you count attitude, scolding, and ONLY critiques and never constructive feedback as contributing to a newsroom). Definitely plays favorites: if you party with him on the weekends, he’ll pretty much give you the better stories for coverage. If you’re strong-willed, independent, and pay no mind to the drama he creates, then you’ll succeed. Otherwise, this newsroom will drive you absolutely insane.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Can’t really say anything positive about this newsroom except I’ve made some great life-long friends. The newsroom is full of egotistical reporters right and it’s just fueled even more by the News Director. Everyone says it’s not a competition, but you’ll find yourself all competing and fighting to get the top stories and coverage. The News Director isn’t new to the business but his decisions make me question that. Usually agendas/plans for news coverage for big events (President’s visit, Press Conferences) is last-minute. Very unorganized. The station has NBC, CBS, ABC, Telemundo, and FOX all under the same roof… but all the company’s resources goes into the NBC’s 5 & 6pm shows. If you’re not on those shows, then don’t expect to be a priority.”
News Director: Cathie Batbie
“She can be very manic and fails to listen to reason. However she is fair and means well in her decision making.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Organized, Positive, Fun
Additional comments:
“Neogiate outs in your contract.”
News Director: Curtis Jackson
“Clueless, Inept, No nose for news, Unable to hire people in a timely fashion, no leadership or writing skills”
While working for KIFI/KIDK this person experienced:
Sexual Discrimination, An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“The things I have witnessed would shock and horrify anyone who was watching from the outside. Morning meetings are toxic and unorganized. News Director (Curtis) allows Assignment Manager (Dave) to yell at reporters who pitch a story they think is better than the lame ideas the “leadership” team comes up with (If we don’t get a news release on it, then reporters are shot down after they have to explain why its a story). I’ve witnessed multiple people in tears who quit before their contracts end. I’ve witnessed female anchors/reporters get treated unfairly (talked down to, concerns ignored, etc). Employees complain of items being stolen out of camera bags and even desk drawers. When you bring up concerns, management pretends to listen, but does nothing to address the issues. Upper management has worked together for decades and since they are all friends and go to the same church, they vigorously defend each other.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“I’d highly recommend staying away from this station. They don’t pay well, the newsroom is always understaffed (which means if you’re a hard worker, they’ll take advantage of you and make you do more while allowing others to miss deadlines, or not turn stories), the building itself is a disaster (it loses power frequently, insect issues, roof leaks onto computers in the newsroom, ceiling in studio is open and occasionally small insulation fibers fall onto anchors), the communication is poor, there is no feedback, no quality training or mentoring to help you improve, and the morale is not good.”
News Director: Shannon Isbell
“Shannon is great but was never really involved in the newsroom.”
While working for WBRC this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
News Director: Alan Baker
“I was a production assistant. Made minimum wage and no benefits of any kind.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Organized, Negative, Toxic
News Director: Anne Pappe
“She is an incredible boss. Always looking for ways to improve our reporting, newscasts, and more. She regularly brings in people to help train us and is always looking for improvements. She is hands down the best boss I’ve ever had.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Organized, Educational, Positive, Fun
Additional comments:
“Working here has been such a great learning experience– from the hands on teaching from our seasoned anchors to the enthusiasm from management. I love coming to work each and every day.”
News Director: Adam Bradshaw
“I worked at the station when Gwyn Bevel was the Assistant News Director and she made for a terrible experience. She was not only controlling and overbearing, she played favorites and would let you know if she disapproved of anything you did. She seemed to get around her terrible management by blaming others for any failures in the newsroom.”
While working for KFDX this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Management is very stuck in its ways and clueless about what’s going on under their noses. Managers, especially Gwyn, weren’t privy to the fact that the station is a starter market, as they expect you to go in already with experience.”
News Director: Anna Velasquez
“Anna is hands down the worst manager I’ve ever had. She does everything she can to bring you out to Lewiston only to bully you on a level I’ve never experienced before. Her actions were directly linked to my deteriorating well-being.”
While working for KLEW this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Very toxic work environment. Not only is the news director terrible at her job, she acts like everyone else is the problem and treats them as such. The newsroom is one of the smallest in the country; news team was comprised of 4 people total which contributed to the negative environment as you couldn’t really escape it.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Like the other review mentioned, this is not market 73!! It is lumped with the Spokane market because Spokane is the nearest market. The town is very small, not designed for people from bigger cities. I was the unhappiest during my time in town, which didn’t help with the negative situation at work.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Educational, Open to Creative Control
Additional comments:
“Great management! Although the environment in the newsroom was toxic at times, it was an overall positive learning experience for me and the managers really prepared me for a larger market.”
News Director: Migdalia Figueroa
“If you’re not in her clique you won’t get promoted even if you’re talented. Surrounds herself with yes-wo/men. Prides herself on “being a bitch.” While she has good news judgement, the newsroom atmosphere is more of a party (for her and her friends) than a professional newsroom where you feel like you are working for and with smart people.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“WTVJ has a long history in our community and it was the first station in Florida. It went from being highly respected and producing quality journalism to hiring young & cheap and getting rid of the majority of the veterans. The clique atmosphere the last several years has run out a lot of talent from the newsroom – there are very few people left who are highly respected.”
News Director: Marybeth Jacoby
“Nice when she wants to be but overall has weird news judgement and doesn’t interact with employees well”
While working for WVLT this person experienced:
Sexual Discrimination, An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Suggestions to management fall on deaf ears. The news director and general manager are either oblivious to a lot of the problems there or unwilling to fix them. The ND’s news judgement and allocation of resources don’t make sense, and about 17 people left in the span of a year since she took over. The GM had a real chance to get someone good after the previous ND was fired for sexual harassment (a whole other can of worms I won’t get into since it’s in the past at this point), but she went with the one that seemed like an ill fit from the get go. The assistant ND has zero business managing a newsroom and micromanaging is really bad. Nobody takes responsibility when things fall through the cracks. In fact, they’re more accusatory toward the people it fell on and gaslight them into thinking it was their fault. I often felt like I was being put in my place while working there and was stifled creatively every single day.
Work is shoveled on competent employees, making their lives miserable while incompetent people just coast through. I was lied to and very misled when I signed my contract. The newsroom is perpetually short-staffed, so I often had to do two or three jobs at the same time, making the quality of all of them suffer. The station cars are death traps and it’s incredible the stuff that happened in 2018 involving them didn’t lead to lawsuits. Everyone is severely underpaid and overworked. Scheduling is an ABSOLUTE NIGHTMARE, I once requested a single day off about four months in advance and was told I couldn’t have it two weeks beforehand. So I called out sick for two days instead because I didn’t care about my job anymore at that point. You don’t get much time off and it’s a combined PTO/sick bank, so everyone comes into work sick and gets everyone else sick. The health/dental insurance was expensive and not very good.
The positives: If you have zero experience, you can go there and learn because literally anybody can get a job there. The 401K is actually pretty good, it’s a 3 percent match. You could probably get management experience there fairly quickly if you want it, because turnover is very high.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Every newsroom has its issues, but this was hands down the worst job I’ve ever had in my life. I’d go back to any of the previous newsrooms I’ve worked in, or even go back to serving tables before staying at this place. If you’re reading reviews about this station like I was before I was hired and are thinking “surely it’s not that bad,” I promise you it is, RUN THE OTHER DIRECTION. Management needs to at least make an effort to listen to complaints and try to fix them. Really the GM should just remove the entire newsroom management team and start fresh.”
News Director: Scott Fitzgerald
Experience described as: “great”
While working for KJRH this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“If you follow FTV youll know all about the bad run this station has had. It used to be the #2 in the market and was handed off to an incompetent ND with no business being a boss. It was Toxic and there was actually a sign in the newsroom for Number of Days since someone quit (think of the number of days since an accident signs).
After that horrible run, we got a bit of a good move going for us with a new ND, but corp wants results and they want them now. Just as the tide was turning and the mood finally a happy one the new ND was out and in comes the most dramatic, nutjob to ever grace a newsroom. This guy treated people like playthings, belittled, badgered and harrassed reporters and staff. Turned photogs into personal slaves and bypassed a thousand OSHA regs. He was so notoriously inappropriate and such a backstabber that everyone in the newsroom recorded every conversation on their phones just to protect themselves.
Now however, the station is being lead in a better direction. The mood is improving but the bare bones staff is tired. producers and reporters have been through the nightmare and are burnt out. the toxic rep from years of bad management makes it difficult to get new reporters and producers.
The tide has turned – but a brave few are going to have to take the leap and trust that things are going to be ok in Tulsa.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Organized, Educational, Open to Creative Control, Positive, Fun
Additional comments:
“Its a fun place to work – honestly once you get past the bare bones staffing we have fun at work. You get away with being far more relaxed and goofy at this place than any other station youll find. news staff are a close family of friends and are constantly hanging out outside of work. It’s a good place with a bad rep from the past.”
News Director: Susan D’astoli
Experience described as: “Ignorant, unappreciative”
While working for News 13 this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“News management has absolutely ZERO regard for family life. My wife and I had a young son with medical issues which required a few impromptu call-ins to get him necessary medical attention. I was told after missing 2-3 days due to these issues that “WE need you to be HERE” when discussing my missed days.
They also changed my contract from hourly to salary. And started working me 65-70 hours per week, up from the 40-45 I worked when I was hourly, thus lowering my pay.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“God forbid, if you have a young family, you may rarely see them. For a 24 hour LOCAL station, they send crews all over the state and out of state consistently for story coverage (a couple have warranted this, like the parkland school shooting) but nothing as to the amount of time you will spend away from your family.) “Favorites” among the news staff are definitely a factor when it comes to news management, and is reflected in preferable or unpreferable schedule changes and certain privileges.”
News Director: Susan D’Astoli
Experience described as: “Kind, respectful and holds employees accountable.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Organized, Educational, Open to Creative Control
Additional comments:
“At News 13, we have 24 hours to spend on important, local stories that other stations don’t prioritize over the crime and national news of the day. If you’re trying to learn how to be part of the future of where local news is headed, this is a great place to work.”
While working for WSET this person experienced:
Sexual Harassment, An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“This station is the reason I, and so many others, got out of the news business. It was an overall toxic environment. When I tried to report it to the appropriate persons, nothing was ever done to correct or solve the issue. The leadership lies and their only concern is getting the story. The morale is low and the assignments are oftentimes unrealistic. My advice is to avoid this station at all costs. It is not worth it.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
News Director: Ernesto Romero
“Abhorrent. One of the worst experiences Iâve ever had with boss – in and out of the news business. Dreaded going to work and my skin would crawl when he walked through the door.”
While working for KYMA/KSWT/KECY this person experienced:
Sexual Harassment, Sexual Discrimination, An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“I was on the receiving end of sexual harassment by my own boss. It wasnât during work hours, but it seemed to affect me during work hours (would be ignited, not considered for stories, etc). He would scold, curse at you also for the smallest things. Also, you had to be on call seemingly 24/7. He would text you constantly about anything and everything â when it couldâve been sent in an email. Mostly laid back, but a little too laid back where youâll receive no guidance or leadership. Takes tremendous amounts of time off and delegates tasks to everyone else. Massive egos in this newsroom and reportersâ egos get bigger because he picks favorites. Even if you believe you work harder than others, youâll miss out on big stories because youâre not his favorite. Very toxic and demeaning newsroom.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Avoid this station if youâre trying to break into the business. The newsroom is home to ABC, NBC, FOX, CBS, and Telemundo all under one roof with one news director. The quality or the newscasts are mediocre and money is rarely spent on new equipment. The ND has only worked at KYMA (NBC) so expect all company resources to be put into that show (5&6). Do not expect constructive feedback on your work. Also, upper management doesnât take your concerns seriously. Avoid like the plague. You will become unhappy.”
News Director: Jay Quaintance
Experience described as: “Good”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Organized, Open to Creative Control
Additional comments:
“High turnover”
News Director: Chad Hypes
“It was a really positive experience. He was really open to different ideas from the team.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Open to Creative Control, Positive, Fun
Additional comments:
“This was my favorite job I ever had. You’re expected to put in a lot of work but the news director, gm, and ep when I was there did a great job of creating a positive, supportive environment that I’ll always remember fondly”
News Director: Esteban Creste
“There to repeat what his bosses tell him”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“We need better ratings, what can we do?? A new set, new graphics, maybe new news cars,reporters on radio stations (that also dont do well in the ratings), new ads on the subway. And did you see our new ticker, thanks to our GM and corporate finance. I know ratings will increase from that. Anyone have any ideas that won’t cost money that I can tell my boss?? Anyone?? Please email them to me.”
News Director: Sarah Zak
“Sarah has a good news mind and is open to new ideas. However, my biggest issue with her is a lack of honesty and directness. She is also incapable of making a decision and sticking with it. I never knew where I stood with her, and as an employee it was very frustrating.”
While working for WFTX this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“WFTX, Fox 4 needs an organizational enema, in my nearly 4 years at the station, Fox 4 was on its third general manager when I left. (Not including the interim GM) And while that seems normal in some shops, I found the issues or burnout, low morale and lack of direction persisted throughout my time there.
When I arrived in 2015, as the nightside reporter we had 4 photogs – one for every reporter. I worked in the Collier County bureau, there were days I would turn away a photog because I set up my interviews so quickly. We would average 3 live shots a week, when I left in April of 2019, we were lucky to get 3 live shots a month – there were no photogs left, none of the ones who left were rehired.
Even more maddening, In my last year and a half at the station, management kept pulling me out of the bureau to cover other stories. When I asked if I could just be based out of the main station, they balked.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“If you join the ranks of the hard working MMJs at Fox 4, you are going to be required to shoot two look lives for the 5 and 6 or 10 and 11, do your web write up, Cut a new vo/sot for the morning show and send an email at the end of the night to the newsroom updating the status of your story. When I started in 2015, the only thing I we were required to do was a package and web story, like most normal stations. When I confronted management about this workload, I was told “most stations require their MMJs to do this much”, my response was “most stations also allow their reporters to do more than one live shot a month.”
While the workload was tough, it wasn’t the reason why I left. I left because the News Director and Assistant News Director seemed unwilling or incapable of helping me grow and develop as a reporter.
They seemed more interested in calling me into their office to write me up about petty matters. I’m no saint, but I worked my tail off there for almost 4 years. All I wanted in the end was more opportunity and honesty from managers.”
News Director: Angela Robbins
Experience described as: “Terrible experience.”
While working for WCCB this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Pettiness everywhere. Management constantly changing work hours, and schedule. Pompous management not willing to listen to the consensus of the newsroom.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“When I asked for a raise, they offered me 10 cents extra per hour.”
News Director: Cathie Batbie-Loucks
While working for KVOA this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Organized, Negative, Toxic
News Director: Mark Colavecchio
“He’s nice, radio guy turned ND. But no real experince. He just doesn’t know what he doesn’t know.”
While working for KTBY this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Very unorganized, no structure, no training, job get threatened on a regular basis from the ND and GM. They love writing people up. Too many things to list.
It’s a station where you get in and get out.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“IF this is your ONLY way to move to Alaska… then take the opportunity… if not find another way.”
News Director: Christopher Swope
“The news director was never an issue for me personally. We got along well and had a good relationship. I was given several promotions under him and given chances to do what I wanted.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Educational, Positive, Fun
Additional comments:
“I would have stayed at the station if there was more of an opportunity to advance into a full time weather position. My chief has been at the station for about 15 years and the morning met has been there for 6 and neither plan on leaving. Having said that the weather team is awesome to work with and will gladly cover each others shift. The chief will handle your schedule so it makes it easy when it comes to doing more weather. The news director was good at managing the day to day flow of the newsroom. The assistant ND had been a reporter at the station for several years and takes time to help out new reporters but can be pretty tough on them. Assignment editors were very good with helping with story ideas and the newsroom as a whole is very connected to everything going on in the community. The photographers are all solid and easy to work with. The day side producers are also solid and will work with reporters to get creative with stories for their shows. The morning team is extremely solid when it comes to working as a unit. The night side producers are very easy going. The main anchors have all been at the station for several years and have a firm grasp on the news of the day. There are some big egos with a few of the older reporters but it’s easy to ignore the newsroom drama. If you are willing to work with the producers and news directors on your stories than you will have an easy time. Being the number two station we pushed hard to overtake the legacy and that meant thinking outside the box. The news director loves new ideas and will give anything a shot if you pitch it well enough. If you want to cover crime stories this is the station for you. The assistant news director puts a heavy priority on crime stories and the Charleston PD is fantastic when it comes to giving out info and getting perp walks. Overall I would rate my experience at WCHS as very positive.”
News Director: Adam Pursch
“Worst person Iâve ever worked for.”
While working for KOKH this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Negative environment blamed on staff managers never took ownership for the part they played.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
News Director: John Stone
Experience described as: “Awful”
While working for KXAS this person experienced:
Sexual Harassment, Racial Discrimination, Sexual Discrimination, An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Toxic environment, news director is not educated, condescending and verbally abusive managers”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“There are some great and talented people working here… unfortunately news director and managers are awful.”
Managing Editor: Marcus Foster
Experience described as: “Excellent”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“The station is not bad but the management is not great. We have some great people but some are very sneaky.”
News Director: Sarah Zak
“No communication, unreliable, no leadership skills, doesnât know what sheâs doing. First time news director.”
While working for WFTX this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Low morale. Everyone wants to either quit or get a new job because of management. Itâs the WORST managed station in the business. Awful decision making. VERY short staffed. They make people work a ton of overtime. Thereâs no confidence in any of the leaders, including the assistant news director and assignment desk. They are clueless. We are last to every breaking news scene. Thereâs no feedback, guidance or training. Everyone is on their own. They give no direction when you do a story. No live shots, mainly looklives. No opportunity to grow. Technical issues happen daily, to the point we canât air the newscast.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“All managers are fairly new in their leadership roles and donât work well with the entire staff. The station has had very few people stay after theyâve been hired. Some have even quit in the middle of a shift.”
News Director: Mike Tomko
“I was actually the Assistant News Director. He was a terrible mentor.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“This station is seven miles from corporate Sinclair HQ, and is heavily controlled by those at corporate. It is a testing ground for group-wide projects which can be nice, but there are too many cooks in the kitchen — and no one who will stand up to corporate and voice an objection if something isn’t working and is detrimental to the local product. The News Director is completely spineless and spends most of his time in the GM’s office, where there is very little transparency and an uneasy feeling emanates. When I was there, a certain reporter had a horrible clique and — if she didn’t like you — you were either a) always in the “dog house” and/or b) forced out. Honestly, I left because she made it impossible for me to come to work. Her husband worked at corporate and she is best friends with the corporate head of the news division. I could have stuck it out, but the nail in the coffin was when I was strongly encouraged to give to the corporate PAC. I found that reprehensible.”
News Director: Tracey Watkowski
“She is a good person but maintains a careless and toxic work environment like most newsrooms”
While working for KGO this person experienced:
Racial Discrimination, An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“While I worked there I had a plethora of toxic experiences but one in particular involving the managing editor they hired from Utah, Marci Young. I was working a shift with a reporter who’s story I was adapting for the web. The story was about a push by the NAACP to ban the star spangled banner due to its racist second verse. Young took it upon herself to comment to everyone in the newsroom that “why do they care, none of them were ever slaves” and looked right at me. I was the only African American female to work in the newsroom for the entire time that I was employed with KGO. For a news station in this century to have zero black women working on any day parts is atrocious but even worse to tolerate such behavior. I reported the incident but nothing was done about it. I only found out recently that Marci Young is back in Utah, teaching journalism at a local JuCo. I hope she doesn’t put any students through what I endured. Also it should be noted that my direct manager was a black man, but he unfortunately was more concerned about keeping his job, then doing what is right and protecting another black woman who endured racism at the hands of a white manager. Such is the sad sad reality of many newsrooms.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Negative, Toxic
News Director: Michael Goldrick
“He’s careless about anything other than money. He doesn’t care about diversity, employee growth or retention, or the health of the newsroom overall.”
While working for NBC 4 this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Like most newsrooms in America, this one is full of hierarchy, abusive hours, abusive managers, loose tongues and very little diversity outside of talent.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Negative, Toxic
News Director: Kelly Boan
“Passive aggressive leader who is a workaholic, fosters a negative environment through poor leadership from the top down”
While working for WHNS this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Where do I begin. Thereâs a reason in the last 7 months our two female anchors (morning and night), 2 anchor/reporters, 2 MMJâs and a sports anchor all left the station. It should also be noted several of them left mid contract. This place is a breeding ground for toxicity.
The problem starts from the top down. The news director has a âher way or the highwayâ attitude. She believes comparing talent to each other breeds success when it actually breeds anxiety and a lack of confidence. She doesnât address inherent problems within the newsroom like the bully sheâs assigned to run it. Iâm referring to the assistant ND who disrespects everyone in the newsroom with her outbursts and her demeaning remarks. People are treated like numbers and not people. They say safety is a priority in the field yet they make reporters knock on doors of criminals after theyâve been released on bond by themselves. They hire inexperienced journalists, throw them to the wolves and the berate them when theyâve messed up. The ND doesnât care about peopleâs family, time or well-being. God forbid you take a sick day, when you return youâll get the silent treatment.
If you bring a problem or concern to the news director or AND, donât expect a solution. They will continue to say âthatâs the way it isâ and bury it.
It also should be noted the station is all about âclick baitâ when it comes to story choices for the newscasts. Thereâs very little enterprise or investigative journalism going on and donât even ask about politics. The poor MMJâs and reporters who end up having to cover a big political story never have the sources to do so because the station management barely listens to story pitches that have anything to do with what actually impacts people. Also, it should be noted the only reporters who EVER get a photographer are the morning reporters. The MMJâs nightside run their own live shots.
There is no feedback whatsoever, positive or negative. So if youâre looking to grow, it wonât happen here.
Just felt the need to write this after reading the âglowing reviewâ someone wrote on this website. Ask most people who work there or have worked there and theyâll tell you first hand thereâs valid reasons FOX Carolina is in the middle of a mass exodus right now.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Negative, Toxic
News Director: Matt Templeman
Experience described as: “Extremely Toxic”
While working for KEZI this person experienced:
Racial Discrimination, An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Management is absolutely terrible. Verbal Abuse, racial discrimination, burner emails to bash reporters, email newsroom about reporters, compare you to other reporters, threaten to fire you, and an overall extremely toxic environment. You will regret signing a contract. If you’re experiencing any of those things I mentioned, management WILL NOT have your back. They will paint a negative picture about you to the newsroom, and harass you. A terrible station to work.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“You’ve been warned.”
News Director: Kay Norred
Experience described as: “Truly terrible”
While working for WFXR this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“There is no pride, managers thrive on politics and playing games, very disorganized.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“This is what you need to know about the actual station without getting into the managers yet: The station is 4th place and very new (only a few years old) and is literally considered a joke by the other stations in the market. Other managers within Nexstar joke that WFXR is a tax write-off for the company. Viewers and even government agencies within the market have never heard of WFXR and that will make your life harder as an employee there.
The fourth place mentality keeps employees and managers alike from wanting to win. Morale is low because of the feeling of absolute defeat, even before you add in what toxic management does to the place.
Also, real talk: the station only has a two-hour morning news show and a one-hour news show at 10 p.m. No mid-morning, mid-day, 4p, 5p, or 6p. They have a little digital show they just launched in the evening, but if you are wanting to get real-life news experience of what it is like to turn content for multiple newscasts a day … you won’t get it at WFXR. The other stations are equipped with SEVERAL shows and run circles around WFXR.
Morning reporters will have the closest real-life news experience with multiple live hits. Dayside reporters, forget about it. You won’t have ANY deadlines or opportunities to be live unless you are turning something for the digital “show” (not real life newsroom experience compared to other reporters turning stuff and going live for 4p,5p,6p shows). Nightside reporters will have the opportunity to go live at 10 p.m.
Here is something else major you need to know: the viewing area is EXPANSIVE. There are five major areas that make up the market: New River Valley (Blacksburg and everything west of it), Roanoke area, Lynchburg area, Danville area, and Lexington area. All of the other stations have invested heavily to make sure there is a bureau in each area to cut down on drive times/exhaustion and increase response time. However, WFXR has not fully invested in this idea. What this means for you: if you are a reporter, you will be driving A LOT, you will get burned out from having to drive so much. From a producer perspective: if breaking news happens in any city that isn’t Roanoke, you will be 100% beat by the competition because it will take your reporter an hour or more to get there whereas the other stations have bureaus a few minutes away. WFXR managers keep talking about getting a Lynchburg bureau and have hired an NRV bureau (he mostly does sports though) … but the other stations are lightyears ahead.
Okay on to management:
First off, if you ever are contemplating working at a station where Kay Norred will be your boss: Run, don’t walk away. However, if that isn’t an option for you, the following is what you can expect…
She will not be direct with you, passive aggressiveness is her specialty. If there is something she doesn’t like about you or thinks you need to improve, she won’t tell you right away. Instead, she will make fun of you or spend her time making passive aggressive comments about you. As soon as you leave a room, she will talk about you to others. There isn’t a single person at the station that I didn’t see her smack talk. She is CONSTANTLY rolling her eyes and bad mouthing her employees and will let anyone who will listen know how much she doesn’t trust her team.
She may appear sweet and genuine to your face but never trust her. She will find a way to use what you say against you, whether professionally or personally. Literally, nothing that comes out of her mouth is honest or genuine (think Regina George from Mean Girls). A co-worker witnessed her telling a reporter that she did a great job on her package, then turned around and told someone else she actually didn’t like it much at all. So if you are someone who craves honest feedback, you won’t get it from her. You will never know whether to believe what she is saying to you.
HUGE NOTE: She is a stickler about being on time. If you have to work for her…remember be early, not late. If you are even 1 minute late or even on time (not early), she will make fun of you publicly and talk about you.
She doesn’t have a life outside of work (no pets/kids/husband/family/hobbies, etc) and it shows because she has zero perspective on what life outside of work is like. She works long hours, never uses sick days, comes in on the weekends, and rarely takes a vacation — which is fine because it’s her life EXCEPT she will expect the same of you. She LOVES to boast about the long hours she puts in. She thinks of herself as a martyr in that way. Kay works so much… so she must stay on top of everything, right? Nope. She works 12 hour days but is somehow always still behind. She rolls her eyes when people ask to talk to her during the day and is constantly complaining that people are stealing her time. She blames others for not getting her work done. So when elections, special events, really anything rolls up…all plans are incredibly last minute and thrown together.
ANOTHER IMPORTANT NOTE: She is VERY forgetful. So if you tell her something, make sure she writes it down in her notebook, otherwise, it will be like the conversation never happened.
Also, if you are looking for a news director who is willing to jump in the trenches with their team, Kay is not that. Most newsrooms have several managers to help with day-to-day but at WFXR the ND and maybe assignments manager is all you have. But if you dare ask Kay to do something that she believes is beneath her ND duties, she will tell you a little story about how pilots don’t have to land planes to get a passenger a sprite.
She LOVES playing games with people’s lives and plays politics in the newsroom. She has an “A-TEAM” made up of a few of her favorites. She even held a secret meeting with these employees and told them “they were chosen not hired.” But don’t be fooled, if you make it on this A-Team, she will still talk bad about you behind your back. But as an A-Team member you will be expected to never talk bad about her and emulate her by working long hours and never complaining. All of her new hires are her “friends” aka loyalists from other stations. It’s less like working for a news director and more so working for a cult leader. For those that don’t like pretending like they are in cult just to survive, she is pushing them out the door by making their lives miserable or demoting them. She likes to say the following all of the time: You are either with her or against her.
Kay is also extremely religious and will shove God and the bible down your throat any chance she can get. She must mention prayer, God, and the Bible 1,000 times a day. If she knows you are religious, she will use it against you. Kay told one employee she thought she was a “God-fearing” woman and “someone like that” shouldn’t be concerned with officially having a job title (having it publicly announced), even though that person was already promised the job.
She is also very terrible with communication. New hires will show up out of nowhere without an email from Kay, others will disappear with no word from Kay. An evening anchor team and morning team was swapped, with no words/explanations from Kay. The lack of communication creates rumors and stirs distrust.
The chief meteorologist John Carroll is the other decision maker in the newsroom. He is also a snake in the grass. He is constantly rolling his eyes behind the news directors back about decisions and griping about adding extra shows for severe weather, really he will gripe about any decision that isn’t made by him. He rules his weather team with an iron fist (micromanager, much?) and talks bad about his weather people to anyone who will listen. The worst is how much he hates the morning meteorologist and how uncomfortable that makes everybody else. He will openly talk bad about him in the middle of the newsroom and do everything in his power to make the morning meteorologist mad. He openly talks about wanting the morning weather guy fired to anyone who will listen.
John is very similar to Kay in that he has no life outside of work (no spouse, kids, hobbies, nothing) and will work long hours and work on the weekend. But you better believe he is going to tell everyone about how long he worked, even though it is voluntary and it’s because he has nothing to go to at home. He expects his weather team to be the same. Every time anybody on his team requested vacation days or called out sick, he would complain to anybody who would listen and would always remind people that he never takes vacation days. He would also imply his employees that took sick days were faking an illness. In conclusion, if you are going to take a spot on the weather team, be prepared! You have been warned.
The GM Arika Zink makes zero sense with her decisions. She is a nice lady, but incredibly incompetent. She keeps toxic and/or lazy managers around in and outside of the newsroom who are hurting the station and its employees. Arika not only keeps them around, but she also PROTECTS them. The HR violations that happen at WFXR are horrendous.
The station needs managers who are going to clear the air, be true leaders and leave the politics and games at home. The station needs someone who will want to win and will constantly encourage their employees to be better. They need a leader who believes and trusts them. Truly, Nexstar needs to replace the GM, ND, and every other department head that is there right now with new energy and proven leadership. Until that happens, stay far away from WFXR.”
News Director: Scott Pickey
“Pickey has his favorites. Simple as this he is a major HR problem. Takes anger out on people in an abusive and bullying tone. You are always wrong no matter what happened. No feedback ever given. Like I said if you are on his good side no problem at all.”
While working for KOSA this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Pickey has no problem bullying you and yelling at you for the smallest of reasons. KOSA is a starter market and they advertise as such. But the way Pickey treats you makes it not worth working there.
GM Don Davis is worse. All about the bottom line and only cares about the product, not the person. He is the reason there are HR problems at the station- he sweeps them under the rug to kiss up to corporate.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Organized, Positive, Fun, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“The people you work with are great, management has issues.”
General Manager: Aaron Ramey
Experience described as: “Terrible. Draining. Exhausting. Depressing. Frustrating. Detrimental to my mental health and the relationships around me.”
While working for WBND this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“You are not a person. You are a machine. They don’t care about you, your mental health, your physical safety and forget about ever getting help or advice to further your career or performance.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Do not work here. South Bend is a great college town and fine place to land as your middle market but I strongly advise going to ANY of the other stations instead.”
News Director: Kay Norred
“Kay Norred is the closest I’ll come to working with a real life version of Dolores Umbridge from Harry Potter. It’s hilarious but the truth.”
While working for WFXR this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Iâm going to start this with a few very simple words: DO NOT WORK AT THIS STATION! NEVER WORK WITH OR FOR KAY NORRED (ND)! NEVER WORK WITH OR FOR ARIKA ZINK (GM)! Itâs really that plain and simple. Now for details. Imagine your worst day at work ever, and multiply that infinitely…youâll only come close to what itâs like to work for this place day in and day out. My best day at this station was my last day when I walked out of the gates of hell. Kay Norred is a walking definition of a psychopath and narcissist. She acts all nice and sweet as can be on the surface, and will stab you directly in the back as soon as you turn around. She has no consideration for your life or time outside of work. She expects you to function like a brainwashed robot. If she says jump you better ask how high or else youâll be off her “A team” as fast as you can blink. You call out sick and sheâll guilt trip you on the call. Then sheâll make sure everyone in the building knows how unreliable you are because you used a sick day. This is only the beginning of a very long rap sheet of problems that nearly everyone at that station has had with her. I honestly donât even want to waste too much time talking about the dumpster fire that the GM is. The only logical string of words youâll hear come out of her mouth is “from that viewpoint” and “for that matter.” Most of the time she doesnât even use that properly! She knows about all of the problems that people have with the ND and does nothing about it. Sheâs swept so many HR complaints under the rug that she could easily be sued so hard that Nexstar would go broke. Oh and I should add a little tidbit about the feud between the Chief Met John Carroll and the Morning Met. Itâs been going on for 3 years. The chief hates the morning guy with a burning passion, and trust me, you WILL hear him openly talk about it ALL THE TIME. He has already had two great meteorologists leave the station because they couldnât stand to work for him anymore. If youâre a meteorologist looking for work, you would be better off forecasting for little league soccer tournaments than working for John and the station. Iâll close with these words again: DO NOT WORK AT THIS STATION!”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“I know it’s easy to think someone may be overreacting about their experience at a station. I’m begging you, for the sake of your career, do not work here. If you don’t trust this review then you should just reach out to any contacts you have that have worked there. They will tell you the same thing…”
News Director: Jay Webb
“Jay is one of the best bosses I’ve ever had. He’s fair, he treats everyone with kindness, and he puts people first. The newsroom is a healthy atmosphere and he genuinely cares about his employees. He know we’re a small market and helps us grow.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Organized, Positive, Fun
Additional comments:
“A great starter station! Very hands on. Lots of opportunities to go live for MMJ’s. If they need help running a live shot, they can usually get it.”
News Director: Galean Stewart
“She is fair and firm. She turned the newsroom and department around since taking the leadership job in 2017.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Organized, Educational, Positive, Fun
Additional comments:
“Reporters are challenged to come with enterprise story ideas. They turn at least two stories a day. Veteran journalists are well respected in the community and are a home brand for viewers. The station is located far from the city; otherwise, great station to work for!”
News Director: Kathryn Bonfield
“It was good and bad. She is definitely focused on staying #1 and making sure the station is on top at all times. But at the same time she doesnât care how she treats people in the process. If you are not one of her favorites she lets you know.”
While working for WJXT this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“I literally hated going to work every single day. I left the news industry after working here because I felt so defeated. I eventually got back in because I realized things need to change and I canât do that from the outside.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Organized, Educational, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Overall working at this station does teach you how to push yourself and be competitive but at the cost of your happiness and sometimes mental health”
News Director: Shauna Ziegler
While working for KFOX this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“I have never worked in a more toxic enviorment, it was like being back in high school all over again. Some fellow coworkers were nasty and rude and would talk behind your back. Everyday someone would be in tears because of someone else. I was in a constant state of anxiety and treated horribly by a male executive producer.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“If you’re looking to work at a TV station please do not work here. They will break you and make you cry and if you don’t fit into the mold they have you, your life will be terrible there.”
News Director: Adam Pursch
“Micro manages, belittles employees and has thrown things in the newsroom.”
While working for KOKH this person experienced:
Racial Discrimination, An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Iâve seen him talk over a black producer as if she wasnât there. He micro manages WAY too much. A toxic work environment doesnât even describe this newsroom.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Behind the scenes is unorganized. I know commutation is less than non at some stations, but the fact that the producer and assignment editor barely talk and they sit right across from each other says a lot. I wouldnât recommend anyone to apply at this station unless thereâs a change in management.”
News Director: Darrel Lieze-Adams
“He is fair, honest, has great new judgement and will fight for his employees”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Organized, Educational, Open to Creative Control, Positive, Fun
Additional comments:
“This station is one of the few I know left that do not make you anchor/produce or wear multiple hats. If you are a reporter, you are a reporter. If you are an anchor, you are an anchor.
The station does have the most newscasts in Southwest Florida. You will be getting plenty of experience going live. You have to be prepared to hit the ground running. If you aren’t prepared or up for a challenge you will not have a pleasant experience. Management is more than willing to work with you, if you are willing to work with them.”
News Director: Perry Boxx
Experience described as: “Very knowledgeable and helpful”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Educational, Open to Creative Control
News Director: David Hughes
“He’s nice enough, but has questionable morals. He’s often frazzled and can’t handle confrontation. He plays favorites very obviously.”
While working for WDBJ this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Yelling and inappropriate behavior were tolerated. Long hours, poor pay, and a lack of appreciation from management gave rise to negative attitudes in the newsroom.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Educational, Open to Creative Control, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“There are a lot of wonderful, talented people at the station, and the equipment is better here than at other stations. There are strong friendships and a welcoming environment among reporters and producers. The only issue is the management. They have started to hire inexperienced reporters and producers, and do not always give them the tools they need to get better and succeed. I have seen a manager stomp around, yell, gossip, and throw things on a regular basis. If you work overtime, you are not compensated because they will force you to take awkwardly long lunch breaks in the middle of another shift.”
News Director: Trav Ruiz
Experience described as: “Terrible, Rude, unhelpful senior staff.”
While working for KTAB | KRBC this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Senior staff only care about their own positions. Would regularly withhold promotional goods for staff and keep it for themselves. Constant scheduling problems, they never had enough staff and would schedule multiple members off at the same time and scramble when they realized their mistakes. Did not care about improving reporters skills. They lied to their staff about information in contracts. Staff constantly overworked and was strongly suggested that if you couldn’t get your stories done in the time they told you to do it in, then it was not their responsibility to pay overtime and you shouldn’t report it because it was your own fault. Overworked staff to the point where I saw several people crying in the news room. Never cleaned station vehicles, they all pretty much had a rotten food smell in them.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“After my contract ended, staff refused to return calls and assist me with new employment, I worked under Ruiz for only a week and he decided to black list me by lying to stations that I had been applying too. They paid very little even for a small market. Very little room for upward movement or cross training. Constantly critical without offering suggestions for improvement. Most equipment did not work with engineers that either didn’t know how or didn’t want to fix broken equipment. Examples: used an actual nickle to re-level one of the studio camera. I also needed my tripod fixed (simple tightening of a bolt) and while the engineer was explaining how it couldn’t be fixed, I fixed it myself.”
News Director: Rick Moll
“Super nice man, a bit of a hands-off leader at times”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Positive, Fun
Additional comments:
“The station genuinely cares about its employees and the compensation is fair. Training is an area for improvement, but overall, it’s a great place to work.”
News Director: Matt Kummer
“He is very engaging during meetings and has more of a hands-off approach during newscasts.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Organized, Educational, Open to Creative Control, Positive, Fun
Additional comments:
“This is a great, award-winning station to work for. There is a very talented team that young journalists can learn from. I loved working here!”
News Director: Carolyn Mungo
Experience described as: “Amazing!”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Organized, Educational, Open to Creative Control, Positive, Fun
News Director: Hiring ND: Darryl Huger, End ND: Michael Raffaele
“Darryl was a GREAT guy! But I think I caught him after he had checked out mentally at that station, but he was a good mentor. Michael Raffaele is TERRIBLE! He has no idea what he’s doing and is turning the station into “cut-in” central.”
While working for WACH this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Overall, this station is a complete mess to work for: Edit bays barely work or they’re extremely slow, tons of internet problems in the building, ingest stations take FOREVER which is hardly conducive to a breaking news work flow, cameras are ancient both for reporters and the ones in-studio, nothing gets fixed in a timely manner, station preaches LOCAL but the corporate must-runs make that motto an absolute job, forget about doing stories that the community actually cares about. Hires kids fresh out of college who don’t know what they’re doing yet they never get feedback so how are they suppose to get better? I mean seriously the list can go on and on about the short-comings of this station. If you need experience, take the job but get the heck out when your contract is up! No point in staying. It’s embarrassing how this station even functions when it’s in a TOP 100 market. I worked for a starter station in an smaller market that operated better.
Don’t expect to cover anything besides “doom and gloom” under Michael Raffaele’s watch. Anything FUN doesn’t exist here. Worst thing this station did was hire him. He’s an absolute lunatic!”
News Director: Mike Schram
Experience described as: “Positives and negatives. Very mature, calculated, and polite, but also OCD”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Organized, Educational, Positive, Fun, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Operates like a typical mid-size station, and one that’s last in the market. Everyone is overworked in an understaffed newsroom. Newsroom culture could definitely be better at times.
Aside from that, a great place to work. News director and GM were great.”
News Director: Ike Walker
“He was the “best” news director of all the ones that I’ve had. He could definitely be a jerk, but he knows his stuff and runs the #1 station in the DMA.”
While working for KVLY this person experienced:
“They overwork you and run you ragged. With the number of newscasts that station has and the angles they give you for packages it can be a trailing day. If you’re not one of the higher ups favorites…you don’t have a pleasant stay.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Organized
Additional comments:
“I’ll say that out of all the stations I’ve worked for this is the only one that had it’s sh*t together. It was an absolute power house where I probably learned the most from being at. They had enough edit bays, equipment was fixed in a timely manner, but it was under-staffed like every other station. I will say that it’s a good place to start out. It’s not the BEST working environment but you’ll come out of it a better journalist because of the trials.”
News Director: Marlene Speas
“Horrible – I repeat DON’T go there unless its your last option.”
While working for KTVO this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Management never took time to help train their reporters. It’s a free for all. The assistant news director Andy Grove is rude and horrible to every reporter he’s encountered. You get don’t get any feedback on stories, your work or know if any progress has been made. They don’t let you go live. They expect you to come in on your after your shift has ended but to cover “breaking” news (a car accident) when you’re at home after a long day of work, at dinner with a friend, busy, etc. No where in the contract does it say it requires reporter to be on-call 24/7 all day everyday. Everyone transfers after a year or quits because its that bad. You’ll be lucky if you get a spot on the morning show.. because it’s the only show that doesn’t suck management wise AS much as the others.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“I warned you….”
News Director: Scott Elledge
Experience described as: “Good news director. No problems with him”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Organized, Positive, Fun
Additional comments:
“Good place to start. It has it days like most regular jobs. People talk about each other too much like they in highschool. Too many fakes to be honest. Only person you can trust is yourself”
News Director: Megan Lewis
Experience described as: “Challenging, but positive”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Educational, Positive, Fun
Additional comments:
“Don’t get me wrong, working here is NOT easy. It’s a small market, and we’re behind in the ratings by far. But, most of the people who work there genuinely care about their job and the product. Megan Lewis can be a bit overwhelming with her demands, but is generally reasonable and cares about her employees.
The anchor team is young, with the main female anchor a “lifer.” She can be a perfectionist, but helps reporters/producers a lot whenever we need it.
Most of the newsroom drama comes from reporters who spend too much time together outside of work.
Cowles is a family-owned company, but sometimes it feels like they forget about their Montana stations. Communication is not always great, and it shows in our product.”
News Director: Dave Ciliberti
Experience described as: “Strange, dishonest.”
While working for WCMH this person experienced:
Sexual Discrimination, An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Created a newsroom of fear & distrust of gut instincts and local knowledge. Leads by fear and questioning. Looks down on pregnant women or those who have small children.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Unsupportive & backstabbing colleagues. Or completely self-absorbed and/or selfish. Few people to trust. Real lack of a team environment under current management, from the GM down to the ND and Assistant ND.”
News Director: Beth Jensen
Experience described as: “Toxic”
While working for KELO this person experienced:
Racial Discrimination, An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“The newsroom is made up of all white employees. The news managers rarely hire people of color despite having a community full of diversity. The news content reflects that, many times lacking diversity or only telling one side of the story. The assignment editor bullies the entire newsroom, despite the fact that he lacks a college degree and has minimal writing skills.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Organized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Thereâs a price to pay to be the number one station in the market. Although the pay is good, the overall work environment is toxic.”
News Director: Victoria Spechko
“Victoria isn’t your typical boss – she is a newsroom leader. She will challenge you. If you can take constructive criticism well, you will learn and become a better journalist. The newsroom is full of team players and everyone has your back. The employees get along very well and it is a comfortable space to work and be creative. If you are offered a job here, I would recommend taking it. Whether you plan to be here short term or long term, you will learn and make great connections that will take you places.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Organized, Educational, Positive, Fun
News Director: Ryan Minnaugh
Experience described as: “Worst experience of my career”
While working for WFLA this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Get called to HR on the regular for petty issues…was told I was useless to the station last week after representing the entire company (Nexstar) at the Winter Olympics.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Not a good place.”
News Director: Matt McConico
While working for WPMT this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Very toxic newsroom. Station run very poorly.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
News Director: Mark Farrell
Experience described as: “Positive, very open to creative ideas and opportunities to grow”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Educational, Open to Creative Control, Positive, Fun
Additional comments:
“Itâs a great starter station that allows you to grow and develop. Itâs close to OKC and Dallas and often allows for many news personalities to move on to those markets or other big markets! The overall newsroom is positive and fun, with good leadership and colleagues.”
News Director: Val Thompson
Experience described as: “Extremely positive, a very good ND”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Organized, Educational, Open to Creative Control, Positive, Fun
Additional comments:
“Great starter market. Smaller market, smaller staff so you are expected to wear many hats even at the entry level, but upper management and co-workers were always very supportive. Very hands on and engaged news director, but he does not micromanagement staff, a very good quality in an ND. Pay is average for a small market in the industry but Cville can be a tad expensive without roommates. Since Iâve left station was recently sold by Gray to another company, so I do not know the effects of that but overall I really enjoyed my time here.”
News Director: Robin Whitmeyer
Experience described as: “Good. She is direct and to the point. There is little training or talent develop but Robin will give feedback when asked.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Organized, Open to Creative Control, Positive, Fun
Additional comments:
“There are no MMJs at this station since the photographers are in a union.”
News Director: Jeff Harris
Experience described as: “Horrible, misogynist , traditional white man.”
While working for WBBM this person experienced:
Racial Discrimination, An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“There were times when you became very well. Aware that you were just that token colored person in the room. Especially when you pitched stories that were for minority communities, the would only choose to do them if It was a crime story. In the end Jeff the ND got demoted and the president of cbs Chicago stepped down and went to work in communications. They could not keep anyone on staff and constantly had turn overs . The majority of colored reporters quit. Out of 50 producers/desk people, there were 6 POCs .”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
News Director: Scott Lawrence
Experience described as: “Below average”
While working for KFDM this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“News Director lacks leadership and communication skill. General Manager keeps persons in positions of management with lengthy, toxic, negative history in their HR file. A work environment so toxic, that I left after 6 months. Bullying, harassment, negativity. A newsroom setup for failure. It was my third station and I never experienced worse.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Youâll need all the luck you can get.”
News Director: Dave Kaplar
Experience described as: “Great! Only puts as much work into you as you put into the station. Wants you to grow and reach goals”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Organized, Educational, Open to Creative Control, Positive, Fun
Additional comments:
“You can succeed or be stagnant here. If you show you want help and to grow, it will be given to you.”
News Director: Dan Boers
“I felt unheard, unsupported and defensive in every conversation we had.”
While working for TV 8 this person experienced:
Sexual Harassment, Racial Discrimination, An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“One of our tenured meteorologists was âasked to leave,â after 9 women in the newsroom complained about sexual harassment, intimidation in the workplace, and religious discrimination. The met was never fired, but given 30 days to leave himself. Our weekend nightside anchor was also involved in the claims – a mere 3 day suspension with pay for him. He still anchors and his behavior has not changed.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Educational, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“This station refuses to seek out people of color for talent. WOOD TV is #1 in their market, but the staff does not reflect the diversity that the community IS. There are two black male reporters, one Asian female anchor – and thatâs it. I am a Hispanic woman and worked for WOOD in two internships, hired in production, promoted to assignment desk, promoted again to Live Desk Reporter. Dan Boers hired a novice, White male journalist with no reporting experience in a top 40 market. Our main anchors and producers were wildly disappointed in his decision. I made the choice to move out of state to mmj and never look back.”
News Director: Bob Morford
“He is forgetful, shifts blame, and is very poor at communication”
While working for WAFF this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Everyone is leaving or getting fired. He keeps moving on air talent around. The station morale is so low. It comes from the top.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Negative, Toxic
News Director: Mitch Davis
“He helped me grow as a reporter. However he plays into a lot of news politics. He knows how to give you the run around. He also loves to have power over you. He gossips a lot with the producers as well.”
While working for WKBN this person experienced:
Racial Discrimination, An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“The work environment was very toxic. They would load a lot of work on you and give you no overtime. They would yâall about you behind your back in the news room. Gossiping is very high. You have no set schedule. You might have off Monday and Tuesday one week, then off Thursday and Friday the next. Causing you to work 8 days in a row. You might work from 3PM-11PM one day then the next day work from 10AM-6PM. Producers gossip a lot. If you are a minority DO NOT GO HERE. There is no news room diversity and they donât care.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
News Director: Nicole Ebat
Experience described as: “Excellent & Exciting”
While working for KPTM this person experienced:
“Even if we are not the highest ranked market in the area, I can proudly say this station gives you the chance to pitch story ideas with confidence, grow as a journalist and still be under the #74 market category. If you are looking for a place to grow and tell stories, you have the support of your boss & coworkers to get it done.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Organized, Open to Creative Control, Positive, Fun
Additional comments:
“I will say you need to be motivated to try new things and push yourself…it’s easy to get in a rut of an every day crank out a package and go home…it’s a great place to experiment, fail or succeed, and learn from it.”
News Director: Melissa Cashwell
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Positive, Fun
News Director: Alex De Leon
“Terrible! Very toxic environment with lazy employees who lack professionalism. This station is poorly managed.”
While working for WTVO this person experienced:
Sexual Discrimination, An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Several employees have left due to the toxic work environment Many employees are lazy and lack professionalism. This station is poorly managed. I would never recommend this station to any journalists looking to break into the industry.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
News Director: Megan Wolf
“She has favorites and it showed in how she interacted with employees and others saw it as well.”
While working for SNJ Today this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“The news director, Megan Wolf, openly berated employees when theyâd mess up, but for this who were her favorites, she praised them and was more than willing to work with them. The owner of the station, Ken Pustizzi, wanted to cover positive news, but his version of positive news which meant we couldnât cover students fundraising to help a local family, or a community coming together to clean up a park. The news was more or less filled with police reports and stories about an area hospital system. The pay disparity was wide with a forecaster making $65k, the director making $45k, an anchor who only did two hours of work (despite having a full eight-hour day written in her contract) being paid $50k a year, meanwhile reporters, web producers and PAs made between $11 and $13 an hour.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“The station lacks room for advancement in both pay and the position itself and is a hassle to get to.”
News Director: Gerardo Garza
“Does not care for his employees.”
While working for KGNS this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Working there is hell. The news director never appreciates MMJâS hard work. Nothing ever makes them happy, they always tell you how bad youâre doing. Rarely, almost never, do they say something positive about your work. The news room is filled with toxic people who are out to get you, no matter what. Unless you want to go to a place where they humiliate you and treat you like a slave. This is not the place where you want to go.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“They donât teach you how to edit or use the camera. You have to learn as you go and donât even take the time to train you. Donât go there working in that environment is not worth it. Yes you learn, but not because of them itâs because of the hard word and dedication you put in your stuff.”
News Director: Steve Hyvonen
Experience described as: “Cluster f***”
While working for WXIX this person experienced:
Sexual Discrimination, An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“ND & AND play favorites. Itâs a major issue. Good people have been let out of contracts early, while some of the laziest and disrespectful people stay.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Organized, Negative, Toxic
News Director: Adam Henning
Experience described as: “Spineless”
While working for WPEC this person experienced:
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 âcontent center,â 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. Itâs 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 donât 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 donât get a bonus. Only employees that arenât 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 werenât 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 isnât 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.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Look elsewhere.”
News Director: Brooks Blanton
Experience described as: “Approachable. Very sympathetic to his team. Has a hard time keeping cool in big breaking news situations.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Organized, Educational, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Most days, the newsroom is a well-oiled machine. Everyone knows their assignments and are quick out the door. That being said, producers are often at odds with reporters as there is little understanding between the jobs. Good stories are often thrown out for “the easy get”. Management often struggles to hire competent employees and the turn over rate is very high.”
News Director: Julie Flynn
Experience described as: “Good news sense. Reasonable and level-headed.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Open to Creative Control
Additional comments:
“Much of the staff are talented and very capable but lack a sense of direction. Leadership has a hard time defining roles, and there is often questioning if the right decisions are being made.
Most employees are very helpful and willing to help each other out.”
News Director: Jeff Houston
“I donât want to bash him. However, heâs simply not a good person. That translates into awful mgr. very little empathy, and very much like a mean girl from high school. Gossipy and plays favorites. Get everything in writing – immediately! (Been known to say promotions, raises and schedule change discussions never happened)”
While working for WBMA this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Massive turnover- disrespectful managers – too focused on tiny things instead of overarching issues – regional ND is a former news director from a previous job. His unscrupulous morals and uncomfortable convos with women were always apparent when he was in town. The entire Sinclair executive board of suits would talk about leaving their wives to visit their girlfriends in Bham. Disgusting. That regional ND once had me do a studio fashion show for him before I could report on the morning show. He picked the outfits he wanted me to wear and how he wanted my hair. It made me feel gross.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“It wasnât always like this the former ND, Garry, was fair and a hard worker. Heâd work the desk in an ongoing breaking situation like snow. Heâd fill in on a show if someoneâs child got sick …. heâd listen and consider other ideas. He wasnât perfect, but it set the tone for the entire operation. When he left, the newsroom fell a part. My friends who still work there confirm.. it hasnât recovered. So many people get out of the biz, quit with no job lined up, and cry in the parking lot. Itâs no way to live. I havenât regretted getting out, once.”
News Director: Steve Cohen
Experience described as: “Negative”
While working for KUSI this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“The station is run and operated by a local family in town. They thrive on the fact that they are an independent with no network affiliation. They FORCE their overly-Republican views on the staff and make them portray this to their viewers. Itâs essentially a propaganda station. Cohen does nothing to stop it. It is a toxic work environment and the company doesnât care for their employees and the executive news staff doesnât do anything to stop it! In a two week period in March 2019, over 10 staff members left to all find different jobs elsewhere either at other stations in the market or leaving the business in general.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Toxic environment, not worth working under their propaganda.”
News Director: Shannon Maze Isbell
Experience described as: “Fair and approachable… not involved in the daily news at all… focused on her other duties. Asst ND is in the daily grind.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Organized, Open to Creative Control, Positive, Fun
Additional comments:
“Different shifts operate differently, but I adore our group of coworkers. Weâre like a family. We have a group text message thread for entertainment and ideas…. everyone has a say… Most everyone is a veteran and does there job. The only reason for turnovers is the rough hours. Iâd highly recommend working here. Thereâs always gonna be unorganized days, corporate changes that lead to layoffs, but this is a place where I feel that I can stay for decades….. like so many of my coworkers. Thatâs a rarity these days.”
News Director: Robert Davidson
“Robert is a great news director. He knows the news business. He really wants to seee his reporters grow, and his door is always open. You can approach him about anything and heâs understandable.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Educational, Open to Creative Control, Positive, Fun
Additional comments:
“Sometimes things can get a bit unorganized which causes a lack of communication, but overall this is a really good news room. Great producers, and great writers. This is a great market and TV station for starters who are just getting into the business and looking to perfect their craft and go to the next market.”
News Director: Bruce Barkley
“He is awful. He treated all the of the reporters and producers like they were children and pitched news stories that were not only uninteresting, but also impossible to get. He would have temper tantrums in the newsroom. He also kept me from airing a legitimate story because it put a business we advertised with in a bad light. But instead of just admitting that was the reason, he tried to make me sound like I was a poor journalist. Every anchor, reporter, producer and executive producer took my side about airing it. He was the only one with an issue. Bruce also left certain people alone but picked on others. He should never have been put in that position.”
While working for WYFF this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“It’s also worth mentioning he’d send out emails, even call you into his office warning he was “cracking down” on overtime but then had the assigment desk call you in early and make you stay late for a live shot an hour away. He would try to make you come in later the next day and miss the editorial meeting just so you wouldn’t have overtime. Everything was on his terms. Did I mention he was awful?”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
News Director: Morgan Schabb
Experience described as: “Somewhat negative”
While working for WAND this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“The news director always had her favorites and if you weren’t one of them you weren’t treated as well. She is younger so gossip was always something happening. Not only about people in our newsroom but also of people at the other stations as well. I think she tried her best to be a good leader but because she was younger had a hard time. She wasn’t ever open to ideas that pushed the envelope. She liked ideas that were safe and wouldn’t upset viewers. Also there would be several times they would say we were “#1″ when in reality we weren’t.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Educational, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“I would say it’s a great place to get experience but keep your guard up and don’t trust anyone. Everyone is there to gossip. Just be careful.”
While working for WMC-TV this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“The assistant news director, Chris Best, would bully and harass reporters for trusting their gut in tough situations. He’d constantly ask you to do things that weren’t safe, ethical or even professional. He would routinely call and curse reporters out if their story wasn’t as good as the competition. He would lie about his knowledge of stories and other newsroom happenings. He also started a Biker Dad Facebook page and would assign reporters to cover events that he was attending. He’d get made at reporters who pitched stories that were close to their heart but then pitch his own. He livestreamed his bike ride into work just to show why he was late all the time. He created a toxic work environment, yelled at seasoned and respected reporters and just wanted to be somebody. The worst part is that he drove out good talent. Almost all the original and experienced reporters and anchors left in his time here. They were tired of his crap and couldn’t take the moral. To this day, I think about him. He was the absolute worst person I’ve ever worked for in my decade in news. And he went on to Mobile to work as a news director. Funny how bullies like him keep moving up because no one will fire them.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“There are some GREAT people on staff who really care a lot about their work. Seriously, they fought a good fight. In fact, most people in the newsroom were like family to each other. I believe that most people had good intentions and really wanted to do good work. It’s why so many stayed for so long. And it’s why so many still stay.”
While working for WSMV this person experienced:
Sexual Discrimination, An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Women were told to wear fake eyelashes and darken their eyebrows. The news director also body shamed women who were not tiny and promoted women with far less experience if they were “hotter””
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“They have serveral lawsuits pending against them. I’ve heard mixed opinions about new management, but a lot of the damage has already been done.”
News Director: Brandon Long
“He knows a lot about the industry. I can see how he has potential to teach reporters and anchors a lot, but his way of talking to people is very condescending and heâs very sarcastic. It can come across as heâs talking at you. Itâs sometimes intimidating to go to him.”
While working for WMGT this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Itâs extremely understaffed. As most small/ medium markets youâre probably doing the job or 3 people regardless. At WMGT, itâs lack of care from management. Thereâs not much investment within our employees. We are the number 3 station in Macon, out of 3. Thereâs no drive to beat the competition. Thereâs also no resources to be the best either. Equipment is run down and everything isnât the best of quality, even with new things we get.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“The turn around rate is extremely high. We have vacancies we havenât filled in almost a year. Thereâs no push to try and fill them.”
While working for WATE this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“General manager is horrible and only cares about business. Reporters are overworked. Long days, no overtime pay. Poor management. HR guy isnât even trained, he handles the finances. No regard for concerns of employees. Toxic relationships between coworkers.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Avoid”
News Director: John Haferkamp
Experience described as: “Uninvolved except for scheduling”
While working for WNWO this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Although WNWO is a Toledo station, it’s news is broadcast from South Bend (WSBT) . Leading to a disconnect with reporters/photogs (Toledoans) and anchors/producers (South Bend crew). Not only that but the anchors were given pretty much all control, basically acting as news directors. There was no “teamwork”. A former news manager told my reporters racist, sexist, and anti-semitic things on the Toledo side, I was told I could not report it because they did not happen to me. On the South Bend side, WSBT seemed like a great station to work for.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Educational, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“It’s a newshare, operated out of South Bend. It leads to power struggles between the 2 stations in completely different states and markets. They also operate another newshare for a Pennsylvania station. They are all not great in the market and will never be given full attention.”
News Director: Chuck Maulden
“The previous news director was inexperienced. Terrible at communicating and played the blame game instead of taking responsiblity for managment mishaps. He was more set on the title of news director rather than actually doing the job. His time there resulted in the termination of long term news personalities, employees and a massive turn-over.”
While working for KOTV this person experienced:
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.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“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.”
News Director: Carl Abraham
Experience described as: “Relatively enjoyable”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Organized, Educational
Additional comments:
“Number one station in the market without much competition. A pretty good place to work.”
News Director: Jennifer Scarborough
“She was tough but fair. I wish she gave better feedback. Many years of experience but she never left the market. So I took some thinks with a grain of salt”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Educational
News Director: Karen Araiza
“She’s very smart and always looking to push the button, but morally devoid at times. She’s also very spontaneous which isn’t always a good thing. She’s showed up randomly to people’s shoots, micromanager”
While working for WCSH this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Again she just didn’t seem to have the best morals and often pitted the newsroom against one another.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Open to Creative Control, Negative, Toxic
News Director: Dawn Miller
“She’s not technically the news director. Instead she is the news manager and the only manager at the physical location in the market. She doesn’t micromanage, but she also lacks vital communication skills at times. Not the most motivated and instead wants MMJ’s to do tasks she doesn’t want to (on top of all they have to do)”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized
Additional comments:
“It’s not somewhere you’ll want to stay for too long. This station is a “news share” which means the anchors and producers and news director are all in South Bend, Indiana. There’s not much feedback because there aren’t many leaders with a hands-on approach. There are no veteran reporters or anchors to learn from. At any given day only 2-3 reporters are scheduled to work, which means if someone is sick, there’s very little content and the slack has to be unfairly picked up by whoever is around.”
News Director: Tina Commodore
“I didn’t work with her, only a week.”
While working for KOKI this person experienced:
Sexual Discrimination
“As a producer I was fine, but over in the production side, even though I had been at the station a year, as well as being more qualified for a position, was passed over. After that, everyone kept asking me why I didn’t get the job because everyone knew I wanted it. They said the current production manager at the time, only seemed to have an all male staff.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Organized, Educational, Open to Creative Control, Positive, Fun
Additional comments:
“Overall it was a very pleasant environment. People were nice, even when crap hit the fan, it was not toxic. I didn’t work full time but all the drama seemed pretty tame and everyone seemed pretty happy. It was an honor to work there and I would love to go back, but as a full time employee.”
News Director: Shawn Venhaus
“Shawn was unqualified for his position. He made multiple female reporters feel uncomfortable, and would use the word f****t in private meetings with staff.”
While working for KFDA this person experienced:
Sexual Discrimination, An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“The News Director would give embarrassing attention to new, pretty reporters – often making them feel uncomfortable. Management would often allow newsroom disagreements fester into an overall toxic environment.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Educational, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Management aside, I was able to learn a ton about broadcast news. The long-time anchors were critical of all writing, and forced me to become a much better writer and producer. Management and work environment were huge issues, but I’m a better journalist for having worked here.”
News Director: Russ Poteet
“Russ is the best ND in the industry for training and encouraging starting reporters. He takes very little resources and makes a respectable newscast. Expect to be worked hard and be critiqued, but also expect to keep Russ as a contact/mentor for the rest of your career.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Positive, Fun
Additional comments:
“Definitely feels a bit like an extra two years in college at times. The MMJ’s are all right out of school and live in a College town. Lots of drinking and can get a bit cliquey at times. Lubbock is awesome for punching outside it’s weight class. There are national stories that you get to cover because you’re isolated in the middle of nowhere.”
News Director: Morgan Schaab
Experience described as: “Kind and encouraging but tough when need to be”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Organized, Open to Creative Control, Positive, Fun
Additional comments:
“This is a great shop. I like our creative freedom and room for growth as journalists. Our ND has high expectations but is encouraging and cares at the same time. Production team can be exhausting but itâs not the worst.”
While working for KECI/KTVM/KCFW this person experienced:
Sexual Discrimination, An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“LITERALLY DO NOT WORK HERE. The only place MAYBE worth working at is KTVM because they have a better Assistant News Director at the Bozeman station, and you would be removed from the toxicity hub of the main station, KECI, in Missoula. The News Director and Assistant News Director heavily favor men and are really hard on women. Terrible leadership style, the Missoula AND constantly gossip’s about employees to other employees, terrible learning environment and leadership style. They tear people down instead of lifting them up and helping them succeed.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Management needs an overhaul. Ten newsroom employees (of about 25) left between the beginning of August 2017 and October 2017 — that should be a huge red flag. Hiring managers tell you that they are a “learning station” during interviews, but they do not live up to that whatsoever and instead use extremely hurtful, hostile and aggressive language whenever the smallest of mistakes are made — in a market 160, which is a beginners market. Managers have terrible, backwards news judgement and are not open to new ideas or creativity. They are not approachable, it’s their way or the highway. HR is virtually non-existent because it is ran by one guy in Colorado. I’m honestly surprised this station hasn’t seen a major lawsuit. The only positive thing I have to say is that conditions might be changing with the transfer of ownership from Bonten Media Group to Sinclair Broadcasting. Reporters are never thanked, they constantly work 10 to 12 hour days, get called in on their days off and scorned if they can’t make it in. It is the most unprofessional work environment I’ve ever been a part of. You are overworked, underpaid and underappreciated. Station management holds no one accountable for anything. They ruined my passion for the news industry. I might be a disgruntled ex-employee, but don’t think I didn’t pull my weight. I went above and beyond for this station, always kept a positive attitude and filled in for every single on-air and behind the scenes position. Bottom line, do not work here.”
News Director: Bernie Ritter
“Absolutely awful. Chose favorite reporters, did not defend me when I was sexually harassed, expected me to work for free (on an hourly wage) because “the station was no longer giving overtime”
While working for WJCL this person experienced:
Sexual Harassment, An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“When I was sexually harassed via email by a viewer, I was reprimanded by the news director for responding and standing up for myself. The ND claimed “we don’t respond to viewers in a negative way” and actually said that I “brought [the harassment] on myself” because of what I was wearing.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Three months into working at the station, they said they would “no longer be paying overtime,” but we were still ordered to work extra hours. We were not paid anything for those hours, despite making an hourly wage. The news director favored reporters who didn’t fight back against this, and often praised them while tearing down other reporters.
I was an MMJ in a bureau an hour and a half from the main station, and never received any feedback from the main station unless it was negative. I was also reprimanded for not coming in to optional, unpaid work meetings held on the weekends at the main station.
I quit my job after 8 months because it took such a toll on my mental health that I lost nearly 30 pounds. When I quit, they threatened to make me pay out my full contract, despite North Carolina having a “right to work” law which prohibits this. I was told to “make an offer” of what I would pay to get out of my contract. The news director also threatened to take me to court if the offer wasn’t high enough, and said that I would lose because I didn’t have enough money to fight with Nexstar.
This was a truly terrible work environment, and I hope my review helps other MMJs avoid this station.”
News Director: Ivan Garcia
Experience described as: “Unprofessional and toxic”
While working for KUNP this person experienced:
Sexual Harassment, Sexual Discrimination, An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“KUNP is supervised by the executive producer, who is unfit for a leadership role as such. He is unprofessional, makes sexual remarks and advances on his female employees. He uses foul language and disrespects his employees. He picks and chooses the news he will air, even if there are news that are of importance to his community, if itâs not something he is personally interested in it wonât air. His actions are especially degrading towards women. Takes any feedback or suggestions as a personal attack. If you donât agree with him on something or pretend he is right about everything, he will start giving you a hard time about petty things. He is an insecure individual who projects that on colleagues by disrespecting them or blocking opportunities for them. This person will offer you so much when recruiting you but wonât keep his word once you are hired. The only way he will help you advance or not make work a toxic place for you, is if you never stand up for yourself or against his wrongdoings. His level of experience also will not help you grow professionally or improve your craft.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Stay away!!! The English counterpart is itâs own other world, but as a whole the place is toxic. People here do not care about you as a person itâs all business. They will protect employees that have seniority despite serious issues and their unprofessional behavior.”
News Director: Jennifer Dodd
“Sheâs barely present. When she is and you have the chance to talk to her, she forgets. It makes you wonder if youâre an integral part of the news team when your own boss conveniently forgets your goals, your dreams or any promises she has made. There were times she pushed reporters to obtain or air information that may have been obtained unethically. As a journalist, while I understand the need for gathering and releasing information first, but Iâm not willing to risk the stationâs reputation and my credibility by doing something that is borderline illegal.”
While working for News 8 this person experienced:
Sexual Harassment, Racial Discrimination, Sexual Discrimination, An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“There are days Iâm surprised I still work here. Since I was hired, Iâve experienced my boss telling me that Iâm hard to understand because English is not my first languageâeven when colleagues say otherwiseâ, I was harassed by a former coworker for turning his advances down and it took the station YEARS to terminate him despite at least five years worth of reports against him, and a blatant disregard for the quality of stories we air everyday. Recently, we hired an MMJ whoâve never reported nor shot a story before. When managers hand you a camera without a battery or tape in it, then tells you to shoot something…that just shows you how much they know about news gathering and the work that is involved in putting a good story together.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“There is a lot of potential for this 24-hour format. Itâs maddening how itâs not incorporated AND nurtured through valuing its employees and their talents.”
News Director: Darryl Adams
“If youâre one of the favorites, life is not terrible. But the expectations of everyone are very very high.”
While working for WBBH this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Management tried to foster teamwork by fostering competition. It was not healthy. There was no consideration for personal lives⌠Working there was seen by management as a privilege, not a mutually-beneficial relationship.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Organized, Educational, Negative, Toxic
News Director: Brad Meyers
“I worked for the previous news director Scott. He left shortly after me, but a lot of the management came from another station. It is a good ole boys club, and they dont take well to new ideas or people.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Organized
Additional comments:
“WECT is a great starting station. They take their jobs seriously, but if you get on the wrong side of the wrong people, you will regret it. They also have had several major flops with on air talent over the past two years. The 3 best reporters all left within a three month span in summer 2018.”
News Director: Jim Platzer
Experience described as: “Below average”
While working for WJAC this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Platzer is rude and doesn’t care about his employees. He calls them ‘bodies’ and ‘girls’ and has no respect for anyone. It doesn’t start with Jim. This is a Sinclair station. The poison is trickling down from the top and the more that the news directors dish out poison, the more rewarded they are.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
News Director: Eric Valadez
Experience described as: “He has no idea what he’s doing”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Open to Creative Control
Additional comments:
“9 News does not live up to their reputation. I had creativity stiffed by management with zero direction. I had a multi-year contract that was terminated without severence a year in after I moved my entire life to Denver. They don’t care about anyone, especially if they think you make too much money. Don’t buy the hype, 9News is not what it once was for developing talent. You can cut your teeth elsewhere and actually make money doing it.”
News Director: Jennifer Rigby
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Organized, Educational, Open to Creative Control, Positive, Fun
Additional comments:
“This is a wonderful place to work.”
News Director: Jamie Justice
Experience described as: “Good, she is fair”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Organized, Open to Creative Control
Additional comments:
“Overall WSYX/WTTE is a good place to work but the GM has a VERY tight grip on his wallet. Don’t expect to make the money you are supposed to be making. Work hard, payed little.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Educational, Positive, Fun
Additional comments:
“Thereâs an unofficial âno jerkâ rule at this station. If you think work is beneath you, complain about all your co-workers and arenât a team-player, you are not welcome here. WREX is all about a healthy work environment and helping people through tough times they may face. I couldnât have worked for a better station/company.”
While working for Spectrum this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“A lack of communication and a lack of morale. We didnât even look at Nielsen ratings because we barely registered.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“If you can help it, donât come to Spectrum; it was a negative experience that drained me and left my career going in the wrong direction.
Itâs a 24-hour cable station, which means only 40% of people CAN watch us, and those that do often choose the over the air stations unless theyâre checking the weather. In other words, you work to the bone to get seen by a very small slice of North Carolinians.
The allure of being in a top-25 market quickly vanished when the reality of being understaffed hit. We barely ever did live shots and we missed several big moments in my time there because we didnât have enough reporters to cover it all.
Things here were not good when I was there, and I fear things may get worse as more people choose to cut the cord. There are great people here, but being in a top 25 does not make up for these complications.”
News Director: Anne Wittenborg
While working for KSTP this person experienced:
Sexual Harassment, Racial Discrimination, Sexual Discrimination, An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“I was the only female photog and there is not enough room here to put embolization down”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Negative, Toxic
News Director: Suh Neubauer
Experience described as: “Uninvolved/gone for long periods, no station direction, unorganized.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“This station is completely unprofessional. There is an overall lack of interest in the broadcast by the management and even the news director. There is NEVER any news meetings, nobody pitches stories, equipment always broken. This led to the staff not caring: there is no accountability, production staff talks constantly over the headsets about unrelated topics, shows suffer. One May, the Prompter stopped working. The engineer couldnât figure out the issue right away so nobody did anything. We went without the prompter for the WHOLE SUMMER. It wasnât until around September-ish that it was finally fixed. We film on tiny SLR cameras and 40$ plastic tripods. Itâs embarrassing cover stories next to real stations.”
News Director: Esteban Creste
Experience described as: “micro manager”
While working for WXTV this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“If there is a long-term strategy, it is not communicated to the staff. Futures planning is inconsistent. Staff is routinely told in the open that they may only contribute suggestions about stories that should be covered but not about any other area of the newsroom. All levels of staff report to the News Director, making some supervisors irrelevant.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Negative, Toxic
News Director: Amie Hudspeth
“She is racist towards white people. She doesnât train anyone, yells at/calls workers stupid and to âpull your head out of your a**.â Everything done in the newsroom is inspite of her. No leadership abilities or good news judgment.”
While working for KAVU this person experienced:
Racial Discrimination, An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“At least 3 white employees quit while I was there due to treatment from Amie Hudspeth. Other employees also quit because they were over-worked and not given pay for overtime. Amie will comment on talent/reporters appearance to the extent of asking them if they are pregnant and telling them to âmaybe get something to hold all that in.â One employee worked 100 hours over 2 weeks without being granted overtime pay.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“If you want to learn to become a better journalist, DO NOT COME HERE. Newscenter 25 (KAVU) is where dreams go to die. There is also a bat infestation that shut down the studio for almost a week to clean the air, because talent was getting rashes and irritated throats/eyes.”
News Director: Galean Stewart
“As a first time manager (news director), her inexperience shows in day-to-day decisions regarding news coverage to favoritism showed among staff specifically multimedia journalists. Itâs not a good learning environment for journalists looking to grow in their craft. Find another smaller market where management truly cares and will help you be better as a storyteller.”
While working for WDAM this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Entire management staff is inexperienced including the general manager. The GM is more concerned about advertising (keeping account holders happy) than community coverage that counts. Small market turnover is expected especially here, because of managers in the newsroom. Training for staff behind the scenes and in front of the camera is not adequate.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“If youâre considering employment at the station, find previous employers that will give you insight into the newsroom culture.”
News Director: Jeff Nelson
Experience described as: “Not Good”
While working for WDAY this person experienced:
Sexual Discrimination, An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Favoritism based on your looks. If your a beautiful female in the news directors eyes then you will get anything you want. If you are just so so, then you are just along for the ride until the end of your contract with no real advancement.
Also news director will pick what type of hair style he likes for you after you start.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Unless you like playing mind games with the station managment then you may want to pick a different station.
Everyone is also hourly not salary, unless you are in managment.”
News Director: Jason Pasco
Experience described as: “Great”
While working for KTVN this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“The ND was amazing, but he chose a terrible Executive Producer, Zac. He was mean, awful and was set on making everyone miserable. Multiple people quit in a matter if months because of him. He was so bad that the company sent him to Management Training in Hope’s to fix his behavior, it only made it worse.
Everyone else is great, you can move up quickly if you try. But if Zac doesnt like you- you will get nowhere.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
News Director: Phillip Ohnemus
While working for KULR this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“I was contacted for a newscast producer position. The news director, Mr. Phillip Ohnemus is also on Indeed.com regularly and was not happy that KULR did not win any Emmy awards this year. This news director has insulted entry-level candidates who really want to be a reporter / multi-media journalist (MMJ). Mr. Phillip Ohnemus recently contacted me for a job interview at KULR and said that he doesn’t want any “introverted, awkward, loner, shy, and wallflower people” in his newsroom and in the journalism industry. When I told Mr. Phillip Ohnemus that my true journalism endeavor is to be a multi-media journalist (MMJ), Mr. Phillip Ohnemus said that “newscast producers cannot be a multi-media journalist (MMJ) and will not be successful in this venture at his station.” Mr. Phillip Ohnemus also felt I was not vocal enough to contribute to anything his newsroom and at KULR-8, and that I am just an “awkward, loner, wallflower” person. It is known that it is an “image business,” but do not make entry-level candidates feel discourage that they are “unattractive,” “ugly,” and not “pretty enough.” Mr. Phillip Ohnemus does not truly understand or know how difficult is for any entry-level job candidate to find his or her first television news job at a small market station. KULR-8 and its sister affiliates across the state of Montana, KFBB, KWYB, KTMF, and Cowles Montana Media Company (Cowles Company), must give all entry-level candidates the opportunity to learn all roles in a newsroom regardless of any news positions the candidates is being hired for and to prove the news director (Mr. Phillip Ohnemus), entire news staff, and newsroom management personnel wrong. If an entry-level producer candidate really wants to be an MMJ in an entry-level starter-market station like yours, give them a chance and give them real, truthful and actual help. Do not discourage entry-level candidates telling them that they cannot do anything and cannot be successful in anything, especially in a starter-market station. Help them to be a news reporter / MMJ, especially if newscast producing is not what he or she wants to do for the rest of their entire TV news career. Give entry-level candidates from all walks of life, all backgrounds of life, including candidates with learning differences/learning disabilities, a real chance and a real opportunity to be a multi-media journalist (MMJ). Do not put them down. Help entry-level newscast producers who truly want to be MMJs, be MMJs. There are entry-level newscast producers out there that do not want be a producer for the rest of their life and have no desire for newsroom management. Show all entry-level candidates respect! Give everyone an equal, decent, fighting chance and an opportunity to be an MMJ.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Organized, Unorganized, Educational, Open to Creative Control, Positive, Fun, Negative, Toxic
News Director: Mike Rausch
Experience described as: “HAHAHAHAHAHA”
While working for KRDO this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Mike Rausch is a worthless piece of garbage who is so enthused by himself that he fails to see where he comes up short.
The most glaring example is the hiring of Executive Producer Matthew Zelkind, who is a notorious sexual predator, and had been fired for showing pornography to his fellow employees. Gross, bruh.
While I believe new GM Pimentel has made significant improvements, I fail to understand why he continues to employ Rausch, who has single-handedly brought morale at the station to an all-time low. Moreover, Rausch has a history of being an unethical journalist himself, along with some very poor decisions, none more telling than his call to send news drones airborne during a wildfire. Of course, several fire aircraft were forced to ground, which embarrassed KRDO to no end, and resulted in one of our producers getting laid off.
Do not allow yourself to be a prisoner to this place. There is a reason why there are so many people leaving.
As long as Rausch continues to run the show, our ratings will continue to fall lower.
DO NOT WORK HERE.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Mike Rausch is not the legendary newsman that he claims to be. As I have stated, he has a horrible reputation within industry executives, and I have never been so unhappy in this business.
One of our digital employees left recently because of Rauschâs poor treatment of her, which sounds like 99 percent of all the burnout.”
noun
Entry into a building illegally with intent to commit a crime, especially theft.
     Ex. “A two-year sentence for burglary.”
News Director: Kimberly Wyatt
Experience described as: “Toxic”
While working for WEAR this person experienced:
Racial Discrimination, Sexual Discrimination, An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“âThe only person I have ever met that knows everything about everything and blames others for her mistakesâ meet Sinclair owned WEAR ABC Channel 3 News Director Kimberly Wyatt.
The ND and managers are completely unmotivated and unprofessional, which is why itâs a laughing stock across the market. I warn you, stay away from this place. The most important survival tactic was to get out as soon as I could.
The newsroom has absolutely no guidance and is basically run by an understaffed group of college graduates. This news station is extremely understaffed, nearly a dozen employees have left under Wyatt’s leadership, because everyone is miserable and wants to get out. It is not a place you feel comfortable at and you constantly feel like you are walking on eggshells everyday.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“If Wyatt were not there then it would be a great working environment. Long-time anchors Bob Solarski and Sue Straughn were great to me. Bless their hearts with having to deal with such chaos on a daily basis.
I would never recommend this station to anyone. No one cares about you as an employee. The station is severely understaffed. No constructive criticism. Youâll be promised things that will NEVER happen.They hire people with no experience. Quantity over quality.
Why the GM keeps a ND around who belittles and lie to her employees, is a mystery to me. Maybe if she and her little âyes maâamâ minions were gone, the stationâs morale would jump dramatically. Maybe, just maybe employees would stay there for more than 2-3 years and gain more viewers than the local newspaper.”
News Director: Emily Adamson
“She was awesome. Balanced demands of management with the needs of the newsroom. She’s a person you want in your corner.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Positive, Fun
Additional comments:
“- Management and corporate oversight are pretty unorganized. There’s a lack of ownership over MT affiliate operations, which is pretty significant issue with how often we relied on each other.
– No discussion of ratings, which doesn’t help provide a drive to compete for a station third in the market.
– Pay is not great.
+ Ending on a positive, the SWX sports brand/channel is an awesome launching point. All reporters interested in sports should not look over this opportunity if they’re concerned about market size.
+ It is a great starter market/station for news/sports.”
News Director: Trent Bailey
“Has absolutely no experience in the industry. He does not know how to take leadership or be a boss.”
While working for WBUP this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“I would not recommend this station to anyone. I got hired under another News Director, but unfortunately left because the station does not care about anyone. The News Director they hired worked in Master Control and has no idea what he is doing. If you are looking for a place to grow and learn. DO NOT COME HERE! There is no sales department or HR. The GM does not even live in the area and has no idea what happens at the station. The News Director does not even know what stories you do. Some days he wont even show up. He probably works 4 hours a day. The newsroom has absolutely no guidance and is basically run by a bunch of 23 year olds. Severely understaffed, because everyone is miserable and wants to get out. The creepy engineer lives in the building and showers in the girls bathroom. It is not a place you feel comfortable at and you constantly feel like you are walking on eggshells.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Absolutely no resources and they will never get any. The News Director told us we were basically a tax write off for the owner of the company. You are better off doing a post-grad internship then working here.”
News Director: Lena Sadiwskyj
“The only person I have ever met that knows everything about everything and blames others for her mistakes.”
While working for WTVY this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“The News Director talks about others. She makes it her goal to make everyone on staff miserable at all times. If she were not there then it would be a great working environment. The GM and managers were great to me.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Talented on air team and a great production and engineering staff.”
News Director: Trent Bailey
Experience described as: “Miserable”
While working for WBUP this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“I would never recommend this station to anyone. No one cares about you as an employee. The station is severely understaffed and underfunded. No constructive criticism. No live capabilities. You’ll be promised things that will never happen. They hire people with no experience. Quantity over quality.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Don’t work here.”
News Director: Mike Rausch
“Painful! Heâs beyond arrogant, a narcissistic jerk who wants to push his political ideology rather than facts. A horrible tyrant to work for.”
While working for KRDO this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Rausch needs to be replaced. As good as the new GM is, Iâm surprised and highly disappointed that Rausch is still employed there. He is an arrogant, self-serving jerk whose hobbies are to make the lives of everyone under his supervision cow-tow to his extreme alt-right philosophies and if you donât tow the line, heâll make your life miserable!”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“There are some great people working at this station. The new GM is miles better than the previous one and is trying hard to make a difference. Why he keeps a ND around who belittles and berates his employees, is a mystery. If the ND and his little âyes menâ minions were gone, the stationâs morale would jump 10 points.”
News Director: Jacob “Jake” Taylor
“He starts out being super kind and nice, but later turns into a real Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. He can be nice and funny, then turn into demanding and harsh, within a minute. You never knew what you would get. It would be very confusing and stressful.”
While working for KIMA this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“I was discriminated with having a learning disability. Jake would tell me all the time I was slow, not going fast enough or not making enough progress. I always felt so targeted.
With my hours, I rarely could get my errands done outside of work. I was told to take sick days as needed and was later criticized for that.
Jake wouldn’t be hard on reporters if they were late on things, but I’d face the brunt of it if the shows didn’t go perfect or things never came in.
The reporters were mostly easy to deal with but they would get overwhelmed easily if if they had to do a PKG, and multiple VOSOT’s a day.
Daniel the director was mean and very grouchy. He would make jokes and snarl if the reporters were late, the rest of the Production people were very hypocritical and get angry at me easily.
Jake would let them tell me too many things at once they wanted the reporters to hear but not tell them themselves.
I felt like people were gossiping against me.
I felt like I never truly fit in and I barely heard from anybody at KIMA after I left, in comparison the KEPR people were the ones who cared.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Organized, Unorganized, Educational, Open to Creative Control, Positive, Fun, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“We were a dominant number one, beating the competition combined. I was always proud of the shows that were put together. As the only producer in Yakima, I felt like I did too much with too little help.
It didn’t help that we could barely get news if someone was off, we were fine at full staff and had a much harder time if people were off.
If you want to report at KIMA, expect to turn a PKG and up to two VOSOT’s a day on Dayside. A PKG and sometimes a VOSOT night-side. Plus a PKG, VOSOT and maybe a VO weekends. As for mornings it varies, but live shots and a mini-pkg or VOSOT or VO for later.
We had half our staff here and half in Tri-Cities. Mornings are Tri-Cities anchored and weather. but have a Yakima reporter. 5 & 6 are all local. 11pm weeknights is partially local, but anchored, and produced out of Tri-Cities with a Yakima reporter. Weekends are all anchored, and produced along with sports in the Tri Cities but there is a weekend Yakima reporter. Sports is Yakima based Mon-Fri but weekends are Tri-Cities.
As for producing, it’s all the stuff you’re used to but a lot of struggling on your own. Jake would help sometimes but not always. Jake is ND/Anchor and would often ad-lib scripts and sometimes fumble. We also had no local weather (pre-taped) and had to write weather tosses and that would be hard if the weather was boring. The KEPR weather people were a delight and super helpful though.
Unless a reporter volunteers to shoot your live shot you will ALWAYS be a MMJ, there are zero photogs.
Reporters rarely fill-in anchored and never knew how to write scripts to anchor. So I would have to Produce and fill-in as ND those days. There was zero training for reporters to be ready to anchor.
On the good days I loved my job and on the bad days I cried. I was proud of the content and almost always being first. I hated the Sinclair must runs 99% of the time.
The staff at KEPR are a real delight. Easy to deal with and so kind.
Get to know Bill and Kevin and you won’t regret it. Bill knows everything and tells great stories. Kevin is kind and funny and a great fill-in director.
It isn’t the worst newsroom I’ve been in but I am happy to be gone. I ended up in the hospital because of the job and management didn’t care.
The Station Manager is a hypocrite, he’s nice unless somebody lies and he takes their side.
I rarely got praise, a lot of criticism instead. I felt like I put in so much work and hours. My shows had strong and unique content.
I wasn’t allowed to talk to the reporters to ask what went wrong in a newscast. I was number two in command but felt like I treated like a three year old.
I would say go to KIMA for the first job only if you have the thickest skin. It’s a tough newsroom and you will get burned out at times.
As for Yakima. rent is very expansive overall especially if you want to live the West Valley, which is the safest and most convenient but also far away from the station. It’s much harder to get an apartment in Terrace Heights near the station. Yakima has great shopping and food, but zero nightlife.
Make sure you make it to the Tri-Cities to meet the KEPR staff. Seattle and Portland aren’t super far and great to visit the if the weather is good.
If you can get past Jake’s split personalities, KIMA might be for you, he has decent news judgment and most of the days you’ll get to cover what you want.
Sinclair is decent to work for minus the political BS and you get good health, dental and vision insurance after less then 90 days.
KIMA is a decent station, run by idiots who don’t understand that staffers are human and that this is a starter market. If you are a reporter at KIMA, you’ll probably be fine. If you are the only Yakima producer, good luck, you’ll probably need it.
Have fun if the backpacks fail, the live shots die because they aren’t being monitored as much as they should.
I miss news sometimes, but not the stress and unnecessary drama KIMA had before I left.
With KIMA I say, may the odds be ever in your favor.”
News Director: Mike Mickle
Experience described as: “Doesn’t make decisions, blames others for his mistakes, very egotistical”
While working for WHBF this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“The entire group of managers and the station owner are completely unmotivated and unprofessional. Everyone seems to do the minimum required of any task, which is why it’s a laughing stock across the market.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“This has to be one of the worst stations for which to work in the entire country.”
News Director: Kelly Boan
Experience described as: “Positive and affirming”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Educational, Open to Creative Control
Additional comments:
“Even though FOX Carolina is usually last in the market on air, the station shines in digital. Crews often break stories first AND accurately, and the web team is often lauded by competitors for going the extra mile. The station can admittedly play off to a more conservative appeal with “FOX” branding on Facebook (given how more conservative people on Facebook do follow anything with “Fox” and “News” in the same sentence), but nonetheless digital is tops in the market and also within the company. Going back to on-air struggles, the station is still the relative new kid on the block, with an editorial department that wasn’t even started until the early 1990s, with a lack of legacy viewers that the NBC competitor, WYFF has. However, that’s changing as WHNS dominates in digital and reaches older viewers on Facebook.
The web team has plenty of tools at their disposal to win the day online, and it helps that corporate switched the websites over to a new, more efficient platform. Live streams to the website/app and to Facebook or YouTube are a specialty. The web team does have to sell their souls a bit when they have to make aimless Canva “Facebook polls” or when they share videos from other digital outlets, but they just get it done, get it done well, and get back to doing news.
Working with field crews is easy, and having company cell phones certainly helps, a thing some station groups outright refuse to offer. Based on my interactions with colleagues who specifically go into the field, the crew usually has all they need to accomplish tasks. Some equipment is older, but we can likely turn the stink-eye to Meredith for this. Newer, more powerful laptops would be a welcome change. One good note is that MMJs are almost always paired with a photog for live hits, and more experienced photogs really help turn a PKG in a creative direction. The station also employs video editors for morning, nightside, and weekends, so VOSOTs, affiliate video, and digital requests are all handled by them while photogs and reporters/MMJs focus on the main stories. Additionally, seasoned pros who have worked at the station a while are always chomping at the bit to teach new tricks and try them as well, and plenty of young guns are looking for that.
Local management is easy to get along with, and it’s easy to find a solution when there is an impasse. However, as the digital leader, expect an onslaught of emails when major breaking news or severe weather hits. It can be annoying, but coming from a station where literally nobody seemed to give an honest care it’s easy to forgive. Management also appreciates that you have social lives outside of the newsroom and are happy to accommodate almost all reasonable time off requests. They also encourage community involvement, and there are folks in the newsroom who give time to local non-profits.
The main concern for this station is the fact that Meredith is one of the smaller station groups in the country, with only 15 stations in their portfolio. I would urge Meredith execs to look at stations soon to be up for sale in other markets, as not going forward with a Cox acquisition was an honest mistake. We could have figured out WGCL and WSB in Atlanta easily, and acquiring Cox stations would have meant more sisters across the country, including in nearby Charlotte and on the coast of Charleston that could act as a natural funnel for upward-moving talent, not to mention an easier regional news connection than trying to hold together informal agreements with now Gray TV stations. Additionally, the studio is a bit outdated, although the introduction of the “Big Ass Monitor” is a welcome update for better studio shots. The newsroom shot is a very nice one, but some better lighting might be in order for reporters with darker skin tones.
Is WHNS a perfect newsroom? Of course not. But is it a good place to work? Yes it is, and you will learn a lot no matter what your job is. It’s very easy to get along with most staff, and the weekend crew is notably tight-knit and can pull off even the most pressing breaking news situations without needing to call in the cavalry. Coming here is an absolute improvement over the last gig, and I’m looking forward to more adventures with this team.”
News Director: Bob Newman
Experience described as: “Miserable”
While working for Spectrum (Central NC) this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“If you want to be on air with people who produce sub-standard work with no consequence, this station is for you. If you want to have inadequate editing software, have at it. You won’t get a laptop either.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Everyone there is miserable. No one even watches. Don’t do it.”
News Director: Jim Newman
“Avoid this place like the plague. If you like to Enterprise, investigate, do active live shots or breaking news, THIS IS NOT THE PLACE FOR”
While working for Spectrum (Central NC) this person experienced:
Racial Discrimination, An Overall Toxic Work Environment
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
News Director: Chad Cross
“Nice guy who’s competent. Very mellow, doesn’t scream at people, and has good news judgment”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Organized, Educational, Open to Creative Control
Additional comments:
“There’s good storytelling at KXAN and the reporters, producers, and anchors are very easy to work with. Just a few complaints. The pay is unimpressive for a Top 40 market (to be fair, I think all the Austin stations pay poorly), producer contracts are too long, scheduling is a mess, the assignments desk can at times be unorganized, and the station hates to promote from within.”
News Director: George Davilas
“Has no reall news background just entertainment”
While working for KPNX this person experienced:
“This place has lost at least 10 photographers in over a year. People are not happy and don’t like the direction this station is going in. Forcing photographers to write more. They can’t find experience photographers they are willing to pay them, let alone, mislead them when brought in for an interview.
They hired a new chief photographer who was a news director in two small markets in Texas and Idaho who does not know how to run a live truck and had to call a photographer for help. Not a person who can lead a staff of photographers know for storytelling and will have a hard time earning their respect.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Open to Creative Control
News Director: Rick Jacobs
Experience described as: “Inconsequential”
While working for KGW this person experienced:
Sexual Harassment, An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Not worth it, things are about to change. Rick is retiring.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Open to Creative Control, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“The best move this station made was appointing John Tierney interim ND. Heâs smart, sexy, and has got the goods to take this station forward! All hail Tierney! The bearded, obsequious one is movinâ on up!!!”
News Director: Lane Kimble
Experience described as: “Super positive, let’s you pursue the stories you pitch most of the time and you learn A TON”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Educational, Open to Creative Control, Positive, Fun
Additional comments:
“This station is truly an amazing place to learn. I got a chance to report, produce, and anchor during my time here. They truly let you pursue the stories you want which is great. They’ll never turn down a live shot either! The Northwoods of Wisconsin is pretty rural, but there are stories in this market you won’t be able to cover anywhere else. It’s a great station for people starting their careers who want to become strong, creative storytellers.”
News Director: Lane Kimble
“Excellent mentor, learned a lot from him. Can’t remember him ever saying no to a story pitch and is willing to let you grow in whatever way you’re interested in. (Want to anchor more or do more live shots? Ask Lane and he’ll probably say yes.) He’s a great person to start your career under.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Organized, Open to Creative Control, Positive Fun
Additional comments:
“This is a fantastic place for broadcasters right out of college to get their start in. The newsroom culture is supportive, creative and collaborative. You’ll learn a ton here and be well-prepared to move on to your next job after two years.”
News Director: Kay Norred
“This lady is whacked.”
While working for WFXR this person experienced:
Sexual Harassment, Racial Discrimination, Sexual Discrimination, An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Every single news manager at this station is an incompetent moron and corporate knows it, too. The best part? They donât care. The GM, Arika Zink, shouldâve been fired YEARS AGO! In fact, she’s not at all qualified to be a leader or manager of anything. The News Director, Kay Norred, causes all kinds of drama. She talks about her employees behind their backs to other employees and is very vindictive. If youâre not loyal to her – watch out! Oh, sheâll also hold grudges against you if youâre sick and have to call into work. Sheâll also call and harass you and say you donât sound sick and wonât talk to you once you do return to work. It’s very childish behavior. Plus, she and the chief meteorologist are having relations outside the office. Corporate knows about that, too. But again, they don’t care. Itâs disgusting and overall, an unprofessional place to work. Also, this place breeds incompetence and things go wrong everyday. Youâll never get ahead here because youâre constantly worrying about what kind of drama youâll be dealing with for the day. There’s never a plan for the newscast because managers never know how to plan for the day. And if there is a plan, it’s never executed well. This station is full of amateurs. Plus, there’s only a morning show and 10pm. Its been operating for 3.5 years and the GM will continue promising midday and afternoon shows but don’t let her fool you… itâll never happen. My co-workers were wonderful and we tried our hardest to put on a great show every night but management constantly got in our way. Management never helped us achieve anything. Worst leadership Iâve ever encountered. Oh, and the station is DEAD LAST in the market. I loved my coworkers when I was here but management will make your life a living hell. And to top it all off, this is a Nexstar station so don’t expect half decent compensation. They won’t pay you half of what you’re worth. DO NOT COME HERE. PERIOD.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“DO NOT COME HERE!! UNEMPLOYMENT IS BETTER.”
News Director: Zoltan Csanyi-Salcedo
While working for KGBT this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“This place is nothing but a shit show. Management needs to change especially the General Manager. She is nothing but a drama seeker, if you are a favorite then you can get away with murder. The former news director wasnât any better. He would get after anyone who did their job accordingly but the ones who always mess up or canât even do their job will always get praised. They hire unqualified people for jobs. The station it self is being ruled by a 20 year old immature child who is a director who is only a high school graduate with no news/production experience at a. All she does is call in sick every week and tries to get people in trouble with the assistant news director and the general manager. Good people who worked here were treated like crap but good for them for leaving to bigger and better stations.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“This place isnât worth working for. No one likes working here, donât expect to bring in any ideas because they wonât care for it. They do basic boring shows with no attention to detail on anything. You are better off going to the competitor station. I wouldnât want anyone to work for this station at all, unless you wanna be bossed around by a child, have a disorganized and chaotic news room. If you wanna be lazy and get away with that kinda work then this station is for you. If you actually want to advance in your career and have management and co workers who care then donât come here.”
News Director: Dan Delgado
Experience described as: “Toxic, immoral, lack of basic human rights”
While working for KCAU this person experienced:
Racial Discrimination, An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“An all-star african-american camera operator was fired because he was “late 15 minutes on the morning show twice in the last two months” after receiving no warnings. This was after nearly every other staff member was constantly late, and got numerous warnings. No warnings or markups on the employees record, yet he was fired the week after the second african-american worker was hired, so they could still mark the box for having a ‘diverse workplace’.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“This is an overall toxic station. I started at 26,000 as a reporter and a weekend meteorologist. Dan Delgado came into the station as the new News Director after the previous News Director was fired for passing out drunk in front of the local movie theater. Dan proceeded to push his authoritarian style, and our main anchor, chief meteorologist, and sports director all left within a manner of months of him joining the staff. I wish I joined them at the time, because I was then promoted to morning meteorologist, after covering for the chief for two months. After being promoted, there was absolutely no change in my pay, and I continued to work on the mornings for the next 7 months. Dan would continue to call me and other workers that he did not like into his office consistently, and I was threatened to be fired (although there were no alternative options for him) constantly. It got so bad, that people I worked with started counting the amount of times we would be threatened to be fired in a week, and it completely lost all of it’s scary-factor after the first three times or so. This place is a joke, and only a handful of people I have worked with there have actually completed their contracts. It was standard at KCAU to break your contract early because of all of the illegal activities and immoral actions that were used behind the scenes. The station has been severely understaffed since I arrived there, and it only got worse in my two years of working there. When I attempted to contact our local HR rep about illegal activities, she doesn’t take action other than immediately telling the ND what you said, which leads to further unfair treatment. Corporate HR is no better, as I sent dozens of emails and voicemails to them over my time there, to no response. Since I have left, I have also received screenshots showing KCAU slandering my name in facebook messages to viewers. On top of all of this, there is nothing to do in Sioux City. It is an industrial area with nothing but factories, and surrounding the main city, there is only farmland for as far as the eye can see. It’s a great city if all you eat is fast food. If you can avoid working for KCAU, I would highly suggest it, as you will only find yourself wanting out after a few months of being berated constantly, even if great work was the consistent output.”
News Director: Frank Jones
Experience described as: “Great! Provides useful constructive feedback. Very straightforward. Sets expectations but is understanding of employeeâs personal lives.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Organized, Educational, Open to Creative Control, Positive, Fun
Additional comments:
“Itâs a dream station. Iâve wanted to work at a station like this since I started my career. Management has high expectations but is very fair and good at giving constructive feedback. They want you to grow and be successful. Theyâre understanding of the importance of work-life balance. We are #1 in the ratings in most time slots. Richmond is a great place to live too.”
News Director: Curtis Hancock
Experience described as: “Good! Very supportive and involved. Sets you up to succeed.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Organized, Educational, Positive, Fun
News Director: Victoria Spechko
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Positive, Fun
News Director: Warren Korff
While working for WEVV this person experienced:
Racial Discrimination, An Overall Toxic Work Environment
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
News Director: Rick Jacobs
Experience described as: “Heâs a jerk.”
While working for KGW this person experienced:
Sexual Harassment, Racial Discrimination, An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Itâs just time for him to go. I hear talks about possible lawsuits against the ND all the time. The ND is abusive. If youâre caught talking bad about him, heâll go nuts and try to find a way to fire you. Itâs hard to follow what he wants. He changes his mind every day. He blames others for his own lack of vision. He blames others for poor leadership all the time. He should look at himself in the mirror.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Open to Creative Control, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“It used to be a great shop. Itâs slowly burning to the ground under manic, horrible leadership.”
News Director: Chad Mahoney
Experience described as: “Terrible, Stressful, Overall Awful”
While working for WGEM this person experienced:
Racial Discrimination, An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“I would avoid working for Chad Mahoney at all costs. My experience working for WGEM was not good at all. It seems like some of the management would bully reports for the smallest mistakes. While I was there, the anchors were rude and would talk badly about reporters and you could hear them through IFB. Just an overall toxic place to work and Chad Mahoney would do nothing to help. He would yell at you in front of other employees. He would also get mad if you came in early to look for stories for the morning meeting. Just avoid this place like the plague. Also not a great place for Minorities in my opinion.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Avoid this place like your life depends on it.”
News Director: Eric Walters
“He was Good to Work with!”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Positive, Fun
Additional comments:
“It was a Fun place for me to work. I really enjoyed it and learned a few new things. If you are starting out as a first time MMJ you will need to adjust to it. Working at night sometimes by yourself is not fun but if you feel unsafe and explain that to the News Director he will work with you on this. Some people have recently left Wbtw and gave this station a Toxic workplace. These employees were lazy and Toxic themselves who complained about everyone and everything. If you put forth your best effort, you will be rewarded with a possible promotion but if you donât get one, you will definitely be better off for the next job that comes your way!”
News Director: Mike Rausch
“Mike has good journalistic instincts and can be a mentor if he had the time”
While working for KRDO this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“It is absolutely incredible that the station hired a sexual predator like Zelkind, the guy is revolting. He is completely inappropriate. In fact he has a history of sexual harassment in his prior station, he was fired for it. He must have someone higher up that is protecting him, since he does not even know or can’t do his job as executive producer job.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Open to Creative Control, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Until Zelkind is there, it will not be a good work environment, it will remain toxic.”
News Director: Anthony Knopps
While working for WTOL this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Physically impossible tasks expected at same time. Crew communication problems never resolved. Discouraging environment for proposing solutions or correcting production mistakes. Inaccurate, incomplete and rude job orientation or direction. Producer mistakes blamed graphic operator on a daily basis. Working off the clock generally expected on a daily basis, break time typically not allowed.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Recently purchased and now hiring an entire shift”
News Director: Jay Quaintance
“It is sincerely unfortunate how terrible it is to work for Jay Quaintance. He has twice given two people 48 hours to begin doing a job they’ve never done or have any desire to do, or they’re fired. He doesn’t know how to talk to people. He cannot make eye contact with anyone. He will destroy everything about your show, without offering any way of improving before or after, all while he looks at everything but you. I know its not that important to like everyone you work with or for, but I don’t know anyone at JHL who DOESN’T HATE HIM. Oh and the schedule comes out in one week at a time, on Friday’s which is an improvement from Sunday. But another person had to complain to get him to send the schedules out on Friday.”
While working for WJHL this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“I regret signing a contract EVERY SINGLE DAY.”
News Director: Mike Rausch
“Mike is OK, but the Executive Producer M Zelkind is a nightmare. I am tired of Zelkind tooting his horn…about nothing. he is totally incompetent”
While working for KRDO this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Zelkind stirs things up, blows everything out of proportion. He should learn his job before he tries to tell others what to do…what a joke!!!!”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Open to Creative Control, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Don’t work for Zelkind. Mike is alright but can’t understand why he keeps an incompetent Executive Producer.”
News Director: Phillip Ohnemus
While working for KULR this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Cowles HR department is disgusting and unprofessional- victim-blaming and no regard for safety of staff”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“will make you work overtime with no pay. DO NOT WORK FOR COWLES”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“This station is last in the ratings for a reason. They have two reporters at most working there and care more about sales and money than the well-being of its employees. They pay men much more than women despite us doing the same if not more amount of work. No overtime and no comp days. I was also making at least $8,000 less than the other sports reporters in the market who had far less experience than me. When I asked for a raise, they said they didnât have the money and that I should be lucky to even still have a job.”
News Director: Scott Atkinson
“The News Director has a good sense of humor and you can learn a lot from his news experience. Very helpful with improving your writing skills.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Educational, Positive, Fun
Additional comments:
“This is a great starter station for people getting into a television news career. Management has decades of experience and, while sometimes personalities clash, it’s an overall good experience if you’re hard-working and willing to learn. Since most of the reporters that come in are straight out of college, it’s easy to become friends/get along with co-workers.”
News Director: Adam Plyler
Experience described as: “Extremely beneficial and rewarding”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Educational
Additional comments:
“WDTV recently underwent new leadership in the newsroom. So far, Adam has helped reporters, anchors, and producers learn strategies that have contributed to our overall success. Adam treats his staff like he’s a coach versus a manager, which has made people more willing to learn. There are still some of the challenges that naturally come with a small market station, such as being in a rural area, occasional technical problems, down to the second deadlines, and difficulty finding stories on some days, but everyone works together to help one another. This is a great market for a recent college graduate, especially as a reporter. You will be in a community that treats you like you’ve been there for years. Some of those challenges that come with being in a small market actually help you in the long run and you’ll learn how to navigate through different obstacles that come your way. You will also learn crucial techniques that will likely be expected of you at the next job you take.”
News Director: Morgan Schaab
Experience described as: “Sheâs fine”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Educational, Open to Creative Control, Positive, Fun
Additional comments:
“To those who keep trashing the other departments, remember – âthose in glass houses…â
My experience is everyone works hard. No one person âpractically runs the station.â Morganâs great but she tends to be pals with everyone and when you do that itâs hard to lead.”
News Director: Jess Laszewski
Experience described as: “Uninspiring”
While working for WJCL this person experienced:
Sexual Discrimination, An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Male managers often make jokes to young female MMJ’s that are inappropriate. Masochistic attitudes from the stiff male managers bring down the female empowerment vibe given by the news director. It’s a newsroom filled with ONLY female MMJ’s. There are two male anchors on the whole news team.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“A beautiful state of the art station filled with toxic managers that are petty, unprofessional, and discouraging to new reporters. An overall blatant lack of organization from management. Any outsider can see that they do not know how to make decisions quickly, or decisions that best benefit the newsroom and individual staff. Often times flying by the seat of their pants and have no plan. This alone leaves the newsroom constantly trying to catch up to competition.
Only anchors with experience get to work with photographers. They are the only ones that get to do hold pieces. There are only 4 photographers. 1 for mornings, 2 during the day 4 days a week, and one for nights but he often shoots sports. Thankfully, the ND doesn’t support solo liveshots. But you saw the numbers, you will hardly get a live shot.
ND is nice and has a vision. Not a bad ND, but has managers that are disrespectful to a lot of the young MMJ’s and producers. It is really frustrating to see sometimes, and have happen to you. I just wonder how the ND doesn’t notice or take action. If you speak up about something, you run the risk of managers treating you worse like they have to people in the past. Those people went on to better jobs in the long run.
A lot of new staff hired on fresh out of college. Would recommend this as a second job unless you genuinely care about news, urgency, and taking criticism to get better. Otherwise, you will flop like some have.
The station and set are pretty, but be ready to deal with a lot of ugliness from managers. They kill the aura in the newsroom. Too bad because there is a lot of hard working talented journalist at WMTV.”
News Director: Mike Rausch
Experience described as: “Just imagine a gorilla sitting on a baby. Crappy”
While working for KRDO this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“When I first joined KRDO, I was at the happiest point in my life.
About two weeks in, I was ready to commit seppuku.
I never felt welcome at KRDO. I am not talking about my co-workers necessarily. Those guys were great. Itâs really the management. News meetings are honestly a waste of time. You sit at 9 am and listen to Mike Rausch talk about himself for half an hour. Meanwhile, valuable time is wasted, with not a lot of production.
Personally, I skipped a lot of the meetings because I simply canât waste 30 minutes when I am on a tight deadline.
Talk about how cool you are some other time. We have work to do.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Open to Creative Control, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“I will say that we were open to creative control to an extent, but not very much.
Mike runs a tight ship and undercuts his staff. He will go behind his employeesâ back to undermine their decisions.
Rausch has a history of violating journalistic principle. He even hired a new Executive Producer who was fired from his previous job for being a sexual pervert. Moreover, Rausch waited several months to add his name onto the website to avoid backlash.
While KRDO has tremendous employees and is somewhat open to creative control, this is not a good place to work.
Mike has single handedly ruined the legacy of this station. Pikes Peak Television needs to get rid of its village idiot.”
News Director: Morgan Schaab
Experience described as: “Hard working, passionate, fun”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Organized, Open to Creative Control, Positive, Fun
Additional comments:
“Love this station. Love the newsroom. I feel though the newsroom has their shit together but other departments and management are ten steps behind. Morgan practically runs the station and works hard to make sure the other departments negative leadership donât affect her newsroom.”
News Director: Kevin King
“Kevin King is an extremely disorganized news director who plays favorites in his newsroom. You can be a hard worker and a great storyteller and it doesnât matter if he doesnât like you.”
While working for KSFY this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“This place is a complete dumpster fire. There were several people making the work environment poor who recently left, but it starts with management.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Do not work for this station. You might enticed by the number of open positions, but thatâs because people are jumping ship.
The news director, GM and assistant news director all play favorites and if youâre not their favorite, donât expect to be treated fairly. When people in the newsroom who are their favorites feel threatened by you, you can expect to pay the price.
This newsroom is incredibly disorganized and understaffed. Donât be fooled by a brand new shiny building and new gear, the managers donât care about you or your safety.
If you voice concerns or suggestions, they act like youâre being dramatic. You will rarely work with a photographer since there are only four for the entire station and you can expect to shoot your own liveshots.
Jim Berman and Kevin King will bill this place as a great place to work and live, and that theyâll help you grow and learn as a reporter, but unless youâre embarrassing them on air, they stop giving you feedback after about six months â unless youâre gossiping in the newsroom, call out sick a few times or youâre a couple minutes late to work. Then youâll hear about it. Favorites in the newsroom can get away with murder â showing up late, speaking badly about others, taking hours-long dinner breaks because they feel theyâre âowedâ that by the company â and will never be reprimanded âbut you will.
If you suffer any sort of mental health issue whatsoever, depression, anxiety, ADHD, etc. donât work here because they will not care or respect your needs at all.
Also, they pay peanuts and will hound you for overtime, even during sweeps and football season. If you want to do something special that requires travel, you better hope theyâre feeling generous, because they will always send salaried employees first.”
News Director: N/A
While working for KAAL this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Management claims to have an open door policy, but when you bring forth an issue they dismiss it and you as a “complainer.” With new management, this place could improve drastically.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Educational, Open to Creative Control, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“The station is in a state of disarray and has been for as long as I’ve worked here. The News Director was shown the door in December (which was hardly a loss), but months later no replacement has even been interviewed. We’re missing an assignment editor, sports director, reporter and digital marketing/web person. When people do come in, they’re usually the ones the other stations have passed up and it shows. Management (especially the former ND) constantly berated the people doing the most work and busting their butts for the station while rewarding those who copied/pasted the rundowns for their newscasts or never came to the table with story pitches. The station is owned by Hubbard, but despite their deep pockets everything is run on the cheap. We had to bring our own food to our company holiday party!
Overall, a good place to learn if you are lazy and incompetent, but if you have any drive or intuition, you’re better served staying far, far away.”
News Director: Mike Rausch
Experience described as: “Terrible”
While working for KRDO this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“This is probably one of the most unprofessional newsrooms I have ever worked with. Employees are great, but Mike Rausch is a fool, and not to be trusted.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Our new Executive Producer was fired from his previous job as News Director of WKRN for abusing his employees and showing them pornography on station computers.”
News Director: Rick Jacobs
“Heâs a duplicitous jerk”
While working for KGW this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“No one can trust the ND. Heâs a jerk who changes his mind all the time and you canât trust him. Heâs nice to you one moment but turns on you the next. He isnât genuine and you canât trust what comes out of his mouth. Heâs a phony. This used to be a great place to work. Not anymore.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Some love it here. Most are afraid and wonât say anything. Boss plays favorites and talks down to people. He isnât a visionary. Heâs a hack. Why is he still here?”
News Director: Ashley Hall
“Condescending, unrealistic, takes the fun out of the job completely”
While working for KDRV this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“The ND doesnât care about the safety or wellbeing of her employees. Works against us, not with us.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Not a single person here likes the management. ND will lie and say anything/promise to get you in the door and working here. Donât do it.”
News Director: Morgan Schaab
Experience described as: “Good”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Iâm not sure why no one has mentioned this, so I will. This is a sales driven station. The douchebag in charge of sales wants to be the General Manager will do everything he can to get the job. I donât know this for a fact but I believe thatâs a big reason weâve lost a couple News Directors. One was great and the other wasnât so good. Morgan is good, too. The GSM doesnât care about journalistic ethics. Heâd sell it if he could. He marches hus clients on every chance he gets. Itâs a good place to learn and the news guys are solid. But the GSM needs to be held in check. Just IMHO.”
News Director: Mike Rausch
While working for KRDO this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“The new Executive Producer at KRDO, Matthew Zelkind, was fired from WKRN in Nashville for abusive management practices and for showing pornography to station employees.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“This is the best KRDO can do?? The fact that KRDO didn’t do a proper background investigation on Mr. Zelkind before his hiring shows how desperate they were to hire someone. Very unprofessional and absolutely disgusting!”
News Director: John Dearing
“Smart news guy but pretty aloof and not very caring. Reporters don’t always feel heard.”
While working for WBOC this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Reporters were never heard, morale was low, I was asked to do some questionable things as a reporter there. A couple of them even bordered on unethical. They like you to know you’re their lackey and it’s very difficult to manage up here. Don’t get me wrong, it’s an amazing station for a small market, but they’re very very very full of themselves as news managers as a result.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized
News Director: Mitch Davis
“Terrifying. I have thick skin and he cut through it. He treats main anchors well but reporters are expendable. Youâll never get even close to a set schedule & that includes your days off & what shifts you work. Plus, you get your schedule a week out so forget about making plans. Thatâs just one example about how he could care less that youâre a human being and that your life isnât working 24/7. Also, if you are looking for someone who will give you feedback and help you grow, forget it. He just tears you down. Save yourself the mental breakdowns that all reporters have under him.”
While working for WKBN this person experienced:
Sexual Discrimination, An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“He truly creates drama within the news room. He pitts people against each other and creates fights and hatred. People whoâve worked there for 30 years say this is the lowest theyâve ever seen morale.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Open to Creative Control, Negative, Toxic
News Director: Greg Shepperd
Experience described as: “Terrible.”
While working for KOAT this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“How many times can the previous complaints be echoed. It seems like Hearst doesnât seem to care.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“If youâre looking for a station where youâre over worked, unhappy, and want bosses who enjoy seeing you hate life, then come on down! Youâre the next contestant on KOAT.
Grand Prize is making it the length of your contract without quitting because of the toxicity that is Greg Shepperd.”
News Director: Kelly Frank
“Micromanaged to the point you canât be creative or successful.”
While working for WTSP this person experienced:
Sexual Discrimination, An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Only men are hired as managers by the ND. Created an environment where the âmeâ is more important than the âweâ. Anyone who is there prior to the new management is thought to be incompetent.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“They hire young and inexperienced so then everyone has to be micromanaged instead of allowing veteran journalists set the tone for expectations.”
News Director: Dan Delgado
While applying to work for KCAU this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“The current news director and their assistant news director (Andrew “Andy” Bottger) accused me, a job seeker of declining an entry-level news producer position due to financial compensation in November 2017 under the former news director at KCAU. Yes, I did applied for a news producer position and given a first-round interview in November 2017, but there was actually no verbal offer or written offer at all. I did not receive anything from KCAU at all and Andy neither interviewed me for the position nor the former news director never mentioned that Andy was present in the interview. The former news director said that he does not allow entry-level producers to be television news reporters saying “I don’t think it will happen” when informing him of my career aspirations, that he was still interviewing other candidates, and will get back to other candidates for the next step in the hiring process. I sent the station in November 2017 a follow-up/thank you note for the phone interview and heard nothing from them. Even on the previous incarnation of the Nexstar career’s website, the job status was “application received” or “applied” and the job status never changed on the website.
Dan and Andy simply gang up on me and told me you cannot apply and be consider for any news jobs, including another news producer position I recently applied to at KCAU because of something that never even happened. It is already significantly very difficult for job seekers and college graduates like myself to find employment in this industry. KCAU could still try to deny me from applying for other television news jobs at other Nexstar local network station affiliates. Sioux City, IA and Siouxland would have been a nice place to live, but not at KCAU.
For job seekers applying to KCAU or any other starter market station (or even a medium or large market station), do your research, keep all correspondences of the conversations you had with news directors, assistant news directors, executive producers, and all newsroom management personnel, get everything in writing, especially job offers and defend yourself if you come across a television news station falsely accusing you, the job seeker of something that you never did and/or never even happened.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
News Director: Jesse Fray
“He’s a nice guy who cared most of the time for what the reporters went through. He was reporter in the past, so he really pushes the reporters to be the best they can. He was new to being a news director and it showed when he first started, but towards the end of my time he became better. I liked how he scheduled meetings with each employee to talk about anything.”
While working for KSNT/KTKA/KTMJ this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“I’m sure many people will say working in a small town with nothing to do is toxic. Some of the employees didn’t have lives and cared what what happening in yours instead. The company is through Nexstar and that company is just a headache just thinking about it. They require on air talent to do too much volunteering during their free time.
The workload increased once we became Nexstar. It was PKG, 2 VOSOTs over that PKG and a separate VOSOT different from that story which could be an hour or more out of the way.
I’ll say I signed with Media General when they were a thing. Nexstar paid the employees about 21 to $23,000. So a couple thousand less than older reporters on a different contract.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Educational, Open to Creative Control, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“You’ll learn more than you ever expected. That’s the best part. Yes, you’ll be miserable living in Topeka and you may even want to quit like several other reporters did I worked with back then, but looking back it was all worth it.
Would I recommend: yikes…idk. Yes, but I wouldn’t put myself through that again even if someone paid me $1M an hour.”
News Director: Janet Hundley
“She just started a few months ago. Rachel Bonilla is the AND. Janet is fabulous so far! She has great ideas and is much more focused on creativity and growth. Rachelâs only priority is weather. Sheâs a pleasant person but she has favorites and isnât afraid to show it. Iâve heard she might be on the way out, but if sheâs still there, I wouldnât apply unless you have a weather focus.”
While working for WVIT this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“The management team, specifically the AND and Managing Editor are completely dysfunctional. There is almost zero communication with staff on major issues. Weâve had several people go on maternity leave over the last few months and their replacements werenât told until days before. Producers are salaries and not given overtime, but consistently forced to work 10-12 hour days with no compensation. Reporters are often asked to stay late and cover other shows but they are unionised and paid hourly. Serious advice: if you do not have a weather focus, *do not* apply. You will not be happy. Very little enterprise reporting done here, stories are basically weather related, minor âbreaking newsâ (ie. car crash, small fire) or a copy of what the competition or local paper did a few days ago. New ideas or suggestions are generally shot down. Assignment desk (managing editor) and AND make *all* of the story decisions, reporters donât pitch and are discouraged from weighing in, they just show up and are assigned a story. Please be cautious accepting a job here. The only reason itâs worth it is because itâs an O&O and typically pays more than the competition.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Thereâs a reason this station suffers in the ratings and is constantly understaffed.”
News Director: Lisa Chavez
“Sheâs a web aficionado Made news director. Web is thriving while TV is floundering. Sheâs indecisive and plays favorites. Unless youâre from Idaho or planning on living in Idaho forever, you will be ostracized from the inner sanctum.”
While working for KTVB this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Management hangs in a clique because theyâve been working with each other for 20 years. So, unless youâre in their in-crowd, you wonât get the good stories, or access to station resources. Retaliation is also common in this newsroom for personal issues.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Again, unless you plan on staying. Boise forever, itâs not worth uprooting your life. There is better experience elsewhere.”
News Director: Ashley Talley
Experience described as: “Constructive, educational”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Educational, Open to Creative Control
Additional comments:
“I was surprised to read the other review about this station. I believe Ashley is a great leader and sheâs very open to feedback from her staff. This is the perfect market if itâs your first stop and youâre looking to get your foot in the door. Itâs also a great opportunity to grow as a leader in a newsroom if youâre looking to get into management. Youâre encouraged to be creative and try new things no matter what position youâre in. There are a lot of people who come in with a two year contract and end up signing extensions, which wouldnât happen if it was toxic. Ashleyâs also helpful if you want to move on to a bigger market. She seems to want whatâs best for her employees. I donât know who wrote that other review, but I donât think it was accurate at all.”
News Director: Morgan Schaab
Experience described as: “Good, was better under Vogel”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Organized, Positive, Fun
Additional comments:
“I love this station, but Aaron Vogel turned this shop around! He is the best thing thatâs happened to WAND!”
News Director: Callie Starnes
“Great News Judgement, little tempermental. There is a method to her choices and she is great at managing talent.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Educational, Open to Creative Control
Additional comments:
“This station, is organized chaos. Not in a bad way, but there is always room for improvement. This station will break you down, and build you back up again even stronger. Although at times this newsroom can be messy, it’s one of the best newsrooms I have seen in a while. The news director is great at managing and cultivating talent if she takes an interest in you. Although you do have to stay on her, about critiques. She is harsh, but for her to be so young, she is wiser beyond her years. Stand your ground in petty squabbles and you’ll do fine here. It’s not a place for newcomers, you definitely need experience, but people at this station jump high and for good reason. Great newsroom to work and grow as a reporter. Plenty of opportunities to succeed and grow, you just have to earn it.”
News Director: Andy Paras
“Really great. Andy is a great leader to the newsroom. He takes on a sort of fatherly figure (NOT in a weird way). He is so supportive of what we want to cover and really listens to us. I’ve grown a lot in my year here with his support and critiques.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Educational, Open to Creative Control, Positive, Fun
Additional comments:
“I’m so glad that I chose WGFL as my first job. It is a really positive work environment where all of the reporters support, critique and volunteer to help each other. We are owned by Sinclair, but since we are small, they don’t really try to control us. But also what comes with that is lack of money. The equipment isn’t that great, but we find ways to make it work. Andy is always a great advocate for us to higher management and to tries to better our opportunities in any way he can. In the long run, I’d take a small market with not-so-great resources any day over a toxic newsroom. I decided to stay and finish out my 2 year contract because I am extremely comfortable here.”
News Director: Jenny Martinez
“News director hardly shows up to work to give you feedback on your on air talent and she always lies to your face. Do not believe a word she says.”
While working for KRGV this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Jenny will sweet talk you into joining the company but she lies about everything. She will tell you that you can grow and become an anchor but once you sign the contract they do what they please. They tell you that they will have you do Spanish stories “AS NEEDED” but it’s an everyday thing doing double work for English and spanish stories. One of the female producers is always yelling and talking trash behind your back. Do not work here. The assistant news director is very unorganized and just sits in his office and watches wrestling. He is very clueless and makes a news story more difficult than what it should be and you can’t miss him from a mile away.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Organized, Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Jenny the news director is always gone for months and shows up for a few weeks then leaves again for a few more months. You never get feedback from her about your on air talent. And she always lies to your face.”
News Director: Morgan Schaab
“Iâve worked with several news directors and Morgan is by far the best. She knows her stuff and is a team player and roots for everyoneâs success.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Organized, Educational, Open to Creative Control, Postive, Fun
News Director: Jana Gray
Experience described as: “Good”
While working for KNDU this person experienced:
“I will say this, everyones experience is different. While this station has its flaws like every newsroom does, I had an overall positive time at KNDU. For the most part I was able to get along easily with the other employees including other reporters, anchors, and management. Although there were some people who were at times tough to work with, some are no longer there. I will say I wish I had gotten more feedback from my News Director. There were a lot of times where I could have really used some direction and constructive criticism, and it just wasn’t there. There needs to be just as much positive feedback as telling someone what they did wrong. Scheduling could get a bit wonky here and there as well, but it often would get figured out in the end.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Positive, Fun
Additional comments:
“Despite the flaws, I look back on my time at my starter market as a positive one. I got along well with the other reporters and we would all hang out outside of work. There is no competitiveness between reporters either. Everyone is always willing to help each other. Tracci Dial, the main anchor, acted like a mentor to me. She would always stop what she was doing to go over my scripts and helped me become a stronger writer. She was the main source of the positive feedback on your stories in the newsroom. I think your time at this market is what you make it. You need to be a self-starter and motivated because no one is really going to hold your hand. KNDU has had some strong newsrooms in the past with hard working reporters so it can easily have that again if you’re willing to be a team player. You’ll also want to be willing to learn more than one position as you will often be trained to do weather or fill-in anchor. Jana Gray (news director) is also incredibly understanding about personal situations. And when I approached her near the end of my contract to let her know I was searching for my next job, she was incredibly supportive. Jana respects the hardworking reporters so as long as you show her you’re ready to work and put in the time, you won’t have a problem with her. So even though the other reviews on here state that it is an incredibly toxic newsroom, I didn’t have that experience. It does have its flaws (no newsroom is perfect) but from research while moving onto my next market, there are far worse newsrooms out there. My advice, take each review with a grain of salt because everyone has a different experience. Maybe some of the people who wrote the negative reviews didn’t have a good experience because they weren’t the best of employees…..Something to consider.”
News Director: Ashley Hall
“She is a toxic, negative, manipulative, and fake.”
While working for KRDV this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Ashley is not suited as an ND. This station has a lot of new stuff, and will give you loads of experience, but be prepared to work in a hostile, negative environment where you are not valued whatsoever.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Negative, Toxic
News Director: Amie Hudspeth
“An utter nightmare. No leadership or organizational skills. No productive criticism. Yeller, screamer with no purpose. Really has no newsroom skills and tries to cover through a berating and condescending attitude. A fourth grader would be an upgrade.”
While working for KAVU this person experienced:
Racial Discrimination, Sexual Discrimination, An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“If I were a minority or female, I mightâve had a chance, but the black female news director has a serious chip on her shoulder regarding white men.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“The GM has no desire to change things. First-timers beware. Donât just jump at the first opportunity. Do research.”
News Director: Mike Rausch
Experience described as: “Problematic”
While working for KRDO this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“I enjoyed my time on the air at this station, but it was also very difficult off the air due to the toxic work environment. Mike Rausch pins employees against one another and it seemed to me over the course of the three years working for him that he was intentionally making things tense.
Why? I think he is obsessed with being the center of attention and he makes that very evident in the way he treats other employees. Futhermore, he ran out other workers that he did not personally bring on, giving him absolute power over everyone.
I do not recommend working here.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“It is trash.”
News Director: Dan Fabrizio
“Heâs great, intimidating at first and somewhat rude… Just stay on his good side.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Positive, Fun
News Director: Angela Green
While working for WFXG this person experienced:
Racial Discrimination, An Overall Toxic Work Environment
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
News Director: Kyle Fobe
“Over sensationalizes, lacks people skills, poor time management, and questionable news judgement”
While working for WTAJ this person experienced:
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.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“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.”
News Director: Rick Jacobs
Experience described as: “Ok”
While working for KGW this person experienced:
Sexual Harassment, Racial Discrimination, An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“I personally donât have any troubles with management but have observed people come and go. Iâve witnessed blatant ageism, sexism, and bullying, though. HR must be aware of this. Management (general term – Iâm only writing about one guy) is very condescending and rude to people he doesnât like and repeatedly sets them up for failure, even if they are good employees and good people. It really doesnât matter how good they are at their jobs. Iâve seen good people pushed out and horrible people saved. The guy at top is a horrible, spiteful person who appears friendly but really is a first class jerk. Iâm surprised several former employees havenât sued. Iâm on managementâs good side right now and trying to stay off the radar. But Iâm writing this because enough is enough.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Open to Creative Control, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“This was once a great station. But managers have no idea what works and are throwing everything at the wall to see what will stick.”
News Director: Eric Walters
Experience described as: “Negative, Toxic, disrespectful,”
While working for WBTW this person experienced:
Racial Discrimination, An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“The overall feel for this newsroom is toxic. If you work in the bureau, you are expected to do a lot more with very little resources, and absolutely no help. In less than two years, five reporters have either quit or been fired and four of them were in the bureau. The Assistant News Director quit in October, and two bureau reporters quit for the same reason in November. There is documented evidence of unequal treatment, disregard for safety, and discrepancies in policies. The one photographer in the bureau does not work with the reporters. The News Director created a position for a night-side photographer in Myrtle Beach, but did not do that for the bureau. There is currently one person working in the bureau (MMJ) and there’s a reason. I would suggest doing research and reaching out to the former bureau reporters before accepting ANYTHING. The General Manager, News Director, Assignment Manager, Executive Producer, and EVEN HR are NOT on your side. HR is not a safe space, and does not document anything, but will rather take the side of WBTW. The managers do not know anything about the bureau, and often times stories go un-reported because they don’t think the news important. The bureau will always come second, and I was told this by managers. Overall, it’s an UNHEALTHY work space.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
News Director: David Lowell
“He may have the experience on paper, but he doesn’t use it in this newsroom. He’s just waiting for his time to retire, and the newsroom struggles. It’s like having no news director.”
While working for KMID/KPEJ this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“People will argue with you and try to manipulate you. No one has your best interests in mind. You will be over worked. I worked 12 hour shifts for 6 weeks and was expected to produce 3 hours of content every day. During that time I was covering a vacant position and saw zero compensation. Nexstar pays next to nothing and never let me sign up for health insurance. No one wants to be there. Both general managers say they’ll fix problems, and never do anything about it. The news director doesn’t direct the newsroom. We had zero plans for election night until our web editor got tired of waiting and made one himself. The production staff is trained poorly, and shows constantly get messed up. The production manager has no relevant experience and has a bad temper. You’ll rip your hair out working here.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Open to Creative Control, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Odessa/Midland is a very expensive area to live in because of oil, and KMID/KPEJ doesn’t pay a living wage. If you don’t work in oil, you’re screwed. Over 2/3 of my income went to rent each month, leaving me nothing for other expenses. I went broke working there.”
News Director: David Lowell
“All of management is terrible. Mike Lee is a babbling idiot, Dave German is a creep, David Lowell is lazy, Doug Faltus does terrible things about his employees and has caused many production assistance to quit because he lets the production manager bully people.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
News Director: Warren Korff
Experience described as: “Okay. Not the best ND but not the worst. Understanding of situations and give reporters a lot of freedom.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized
Additional comments:
“Decent gig for someone straight out of college. Not the worst, but not the best. Very gossipy. Management doesnât have much experience in their roles which can sometimes cause a problem.”
News Director: Bryan Queen
“HORRIFIC. Has no human decency, lacks basic communication skills, sets team up for failure, is in no way a positive leader and creates a toxic work environment.”
While working for WHP this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Management is completely unprofessional and lacks all leadership skills. The stations turnover rate is incredible and constant.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
News Director: Rod Jackson
“He acts as if he is bipolar. Behaves very bizarrely. Not a good manager and embarrasses people in the newsroom”
While working for WBRE this person experienced:
Sexual Harassment, Sexual Discrimination, An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Multiple complaints were filed against the GM (Bob Bee) who is now in Harrisburg. A part-time camera operated sexually harassed a half dozen women before getting fired. He tried to take photos of women in the stages of dressing and undressing.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Nexstar is buying tribune and the #1 station WNEP is tribune. Many are worried what this will mean for WBRE”
News Director: Jim Lemon
Experience described as: “Below average”
While working for KEYT KCOY KKFX this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Hard to advance and everyone hates being there”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Do not recommend to people just starting out in the business – many of my fellow coworkers have now quit the business because of the experience at this station. Better for someone who knows the behavior is not normal!”
News Director: Mike Rausch
While working for KRDO this person experienced:
“I was a job candidate. I read the reviews on here and was wary to work at KRDO. I know someone at another station who told me not to work there and after how I was spoken too on the phone in a condescending matter treating me as an option saying to me they are waiting for the other candidate to get back to with and then criticized my demo reel, I said “F” these people.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Negative, Toxic
News Director: Amy Adams
Experience described as: “Repugnant”
While working for WOWT this person experienced:
Sexual Harassment, Racial Discrimination, Sexual Discrimination, An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“No one was treated fairly. She would work you until your absolute breaking point with zero compassion for any personal life outside of work. You will work mornings, middays, evenings, overnights in the same week. “you’re young you can handle it””
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“I would like to start by first congratulating Vic (GM) and Amy (ND) for running that station into the ground and shoveling viewers over to the competition. Every decision made was opposite of what it should be. Every employee was left scratching their heads and turning to booze to cope with them. The environment was so toxic that 20+ employees quick within mere months. No one was hired to replace them either. All that responsibility fell onto others and all Amy did was send out unprofessional emails with the attitude of the a 7th grader to those who remained. Go to HR? HA! She is useless and would just tell you to go to corporate. HR was part of the power pack and helped the ND and GM screw people out of holiday time off and solutions to legitimate problems. Such as sexual discrimination and sexual harassment on top of not following Gray’s own policies. Until that station has a complete turn over on who runs it you need to run and hide from this sinking ship.”
News Director: Janis Harper
“The company doesnât care about their employees. Upper management doesnât empower the news team and allows toxic employee support to run free, making the station a horrible place to work. ND doesnât know how to lead and the top-heavy management structure doesnât foster respect. No room for growth, as itâs the only station in the companyâs portfolio. Beautiful place to live but youâll hate your job.”
While working for KTVA this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“The company doesnât care about their employees. Upper management doesnât empower the news team and allows toxic employee support to run free, making the station a horrible place to work. ND doesnât know how to lead and the top-heavy management structure doesnât foster respect. No room for growth, as itâs the only station in the companyâs portfolio. Beautiful place to live but youâll hate your job.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“If you value your job here, donât express an opinion that differs from the management team.”
News Director: Eric Walters
“Doesnât pay attention, doesnât give feedback, shows favoritism”
While working for WBTW this person experienced:
Racial Discrimination, An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Racial discrimination. All of the black/Hispanic/and most of the dark haired white people get placed in the bureau. All of the blondes are at the beach. In the past year, FIVE bureau reporters quit/were fired. And between September and November 2018, two beach reporters, the assistant news director, and two bureau reporters left all for similar reasons: blatant disregard for safety and lack of support in the field. Youâll be sent to notoriously dangerous places by yourself and youâll be questioned when you tell management that you donât feel safe. If you work in the bureau, assume youâll never work with the photographer. And on the RARE occasion that heâs assigned to work with you (I was assigned to work with him fewer than 20 times during my time at News13), heâll make excuses as to why he canât show up. Heâd rather cover trick-or-treating events than court hearings. Youâll never get adequate training. Training periods (at least a few weeks of training before youâre thrown into the fire) are not a thing here. Managers just want people on-air as quickly as possible because they keep losing people so rapidly. Theyâll tell you how much they care about your success here but their actions and constant disregard for your concerns prove otherwise. Management is full of liars. Theyâll set up meetings with you and when you show up on time, theyâll tell the boss that you were hours late. Keep ALL emails. Youâll need them to defend yourself when management decides to lie on you. And trust me, they will.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“Donât work here. I would recommend this station to my worst enemy or the devil himself.”
News Director: Allison Gibson, Shane Moreland prior to her.
Experience described as: “Good”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Educational
Additional comments:
“Shane Moreland was a wonderful news director who takes chances on new reporters and works with them to help them grow. He is very straight forward and for those willing to listen instead of getting defensive, it paid off for them as reporters. When Shane left Allison Gibson came in. She is very kind and willing to listen and hear you out if you ever have concerns. There are a lot of great people at the station including the main anchor Ron Steele who has been there for more than 40 years. I look back on my time at KWWL with good memories and am thankful to have had the experience.”
News Director: David Lowell
“David Lowell is a really nice guy and I truly believe he knows the business. However, management at the station is essentially non-existent. When problems arise, management (especially the general manager) is quick to dismiss them.”
While working for KMID/KPEJ this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Every department is toxic. No matter where you go in this station, there are people out for one another. People claim that it’s “constructive criticism” when they tell you what you’re doing wrong. But in reality, KMID/KPEJ is a station full of big egos and small minds. Everyone wants you to do things their way. And if it is not done their way, they will tell you it’s wrong.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“I appreciate the skills and experience I have gained during my time at the station. But at the end of the day, the job does not pay anyone well enough to deal with the everyday stress. If you are looking for a starter’s market. I would recommend anywhere but KMID/KPEJ.”
News Director: Allison Gibson, shortly before her Shane Moreland
“This year alone (2018) a number of on-air talent left the station, most of them finding ways to leave their contracts. It really says something about a station when they lose a met, an anchor, and several reporters in a short amount of time. I think many quit after the former ND Shane Moreland left because they had gone through so much belittling, verbal abuse, and disrespect from him. They finally felt liberated. The current ND Allison Gibson somewhat got a bad situation having to deal with all of this, but she really didnât make things better like some people had hoped. Not sure whatâs going on, but management has yet to fill most of those positions, although itâs been months. The station likes to put on a front like itâs a welcoming, friendly, âIowa niceâ environment. A few people were kind, but there were some very negative, miserable ones behind the scenes who had nothing better to do than to plot against others. Youâd think the focus would be the news, right?”
While working for KWWL this person experienced:
Racial Discrimination, An Overall Toxic Work Environment
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
News Director: Phillip Ohnemus
“I worked under Alan Wagmeister. He was a nice guy, but a know it all. Always wanted to be the smartest person in the room. Talked about all his accomplishments as a producer. He’s now out of the business, probably doing communications.”
While working for KULR this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“While I was there, the main male anchor made his female counterpart so uncomfortable. It put the newsroom in a weird position because he would literally not talk to her, even if she talked to him. He did this in front of everyone and was never reprimanded. She was eventually pushed out the door.
They never let any reporters anchor a newscast while I was there. If they’re going to pay you $10.10 an hour, they should at least let you on the desk. They opted several times to have the sports reporter anchor newscast over people in the news department.
There was also a hometown hero who worked there that thought he knew how to do everything. A lot of the locals who work there view people from out of state as outsiders. They show it in not so subtle ways. Smile in your face, but definitely talk behind your back in Facebook messages. They aren’t the brightest lot. Left the messages up.
They hired some crazy woman to weekend anchor who could barely put a camera on a tripod. She was useless as a reporter unless she was going live and had a photographer. The station only had two.
They also launched a statewide morning show while I was there and poured a lot of resources into it. A former anchor in the market, who was a beauty queen at one point, came to anchor it. She was catty and treated the main female evening anchor poorly. Talked about her clothes and a sponsorship she had at a local store.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“I’m sure not much has changed besides the managers. Main male anchor is still there and he seems to have hit it off nicely with the new female anchor that moved from the morning show to evenings.
Get your start there, then leave. Don’t stay within the company and go to KHQ in Spokane. I hear it’s not much better despite the nice market jump. Terrible pay for MMJ’s.
Leave Cowles Company.”
News Director: Tom Henderson
“Nice guy and seems super attentive when you first start, but stays in his office a lot and doesnât know whatâs going on his newsroom.”
While working for NewsChannel 9 this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“Managing editor is extremely condescending. She and a lower employee gossip about other employees where they can be heard. Also, she and assignment manager pick favorites and not everyone gets equal opportunities. For example, a âfavoriteâ will get all breaking news stories, best photographer, etc.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“The news director favors the managing editor, Latricia, and even though 15+ employees have left citing her as the problem for a toxic workplace the problem is ignored. I wouldnât let my worst enemy work there.”
News Director: Lena Sadiwskyj
Experience described as: “Horrible she is a disgusting human being.”
While working for WTVY this person experienced:
Racial Discrimination, An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“This work environment has to be the most unpleasant place I have ever worked before. Management is so dysfunctional, unprofessional and very racist especially towards African American woman. Reginald Jones is the Assistant ND and he is a black coon that does not stick up for anyone or anything and shows extreme favoritism.”
This person describes the overall newsroom environment as:
Unorganized, Negative, Toxic
Additional comments:
“This is a market for many that want to get their foot in the door also known as a starter market. However if you can go anywhere else GO. You will repeat stories daily there was a case where four different reporters did the same exact story. Management thinks if your young that they can speak to you any type of way which is unacceptable and unprofessional. The newsroom is a big high school and they don’t care about the employees. We have no rain gear, cold gear etc. This place is piss poor. Overall I don’t understand how this place is still functioning.”
News Director: Mike Rausch
Experience described as: “Unprofessional”
While working for KRDO this person experienced:
An Overall Toxic Work Environment
“KRDO is not a good place to work. I have had the honor and pleasure of working with many great people in this industry and out of all of them, Mike Rausch is single-handedly the cockiest of them all, a self-described professional who claims to be one of the nation’s most successful TV news executives. If you are talking about multiple ethics and FAA violations, then Rausch is your guy.
If you want to be in a newsroom that is free of gossip and all that other crap that prevents a newsroom from getting work done, I would suggest finding another place to work. The Assistant N.D. is a yes man to him, so she won’t be much of a help to you, either. There’s a reason why there are so many job openings here — no one wants to stay.
Be careful before you agree to a contract. That’s all I have to tell you. But don’t get me wrong, there are amazing people here. But if you want to make friends, there’s an APP for that. There’s no reason for you to waste your time.
Also, if you apply for an Associate Producer position…just be aware that it’s not a permanent position — you will likely get laid off. They won’t tell you that during the interview, so just be awa