Denver Staffers Worried About Sinclair Takeover
/FTVLive was the FIRST to tell you that KDVR News Director Holly Gauntt was leaving the Tribune station and jumping across the street to KMGH.
With Sinclair about to takeover KDVR and sister station KWGN, Gauntt will likely not be the last one to leave the Tribune stations.
Staffers at the Denver stations are worried that Sinclair is going to come in and screw up their momentum.
In a memo to the staff, KDVR-KWGN GM Joan Barrett said, “We have great momentum here at 100 East Speer, and that won’t change.”
But, not everyone in the newsroom is buying that. A strict “no comment” mandate is in effect at KDVR and KWGN, but the newsroom is understandably rattled.
Denver media circles are buzzing about the Sinclair takeover A Tweet in response to the report in The Hill regarding the “must-runs” from anchor Kyle Clark at KUSA: “Methinks Denver TV viewers aren’t going to love this.”
A KDVR insider who requested anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the subject confirmed that “people in the newsroom are worried about the must-runs.”
Staffers are understandably proud of the ratings traction the station has gained recently.
From a journalistic standpoint, the dictating of editorial content by a distant owner is worrisome.
Fred Brown, a former Denver Post reporter and columnist, now teaching media ethics at the University of Denver, said via email to the Post: “I just don’t understand how carpetbagging conservatives are going to be much of a draw, especially since local news tends to look at things with rose-colored glasses, not with blood in the eye.”
Some Denver staffers have emailed FTVLive saying that they are looking to move on. FTVLive told you yesterday that KDVR's Managing Editor will soon be leaving and crossing the street to join Gauntt.
Others may also follow.
Stay tuned....
H/T Denver Post
