Why So Many are Leaving DC station?

The Washingtonian did a story on why so many staffers have left WJLA in Washington, DC?

The paper quickly figured out that the answer was a single word.

Sinclair. 

So why would WJLA let more than a century’s worth of name recognition walk out the door? Or, stranger still, why would it nudge them?

In the case of Channel 7, the on-air changes are part of a bigger behind-the-scenes transition. In 2014, longtime owner Allbritton Communications sold its TV business to Sinclair Broadcast Group. 

Does local news still matter to Sinclair?

“Local news is at the heart of Sinclair,” says Scott Livingston, the company’s vice president of news. In fact, at two meetings the day after news broke that Bunyan was among 20 or so people getting the heave-ho, WJLA stressed that point via a jargon-heavy video and a PowerPoint presentation for staffers, who later received a gift bag containing a plaque with Sinclair’s new vision statement: “Connecting People With Content Everywhere.”

Sinclair says no financial pressures from above led to the beloved TV personalities’ exits: The “suggestion that financial decisions were the driving concern behind recent changes is false,” Livingston says. 

And at that point, a pig flew right behind him. 

Read the story from The Washingtonian and laugh at the BS coming from Sinclair. 

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