Now They Tell Us...
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On August 21st, FTVLive did a story on how WKEF/WRGT (Dayton) Weather Anchor Jamie Simpson had been missing from the station’s air.
In the story, we wrote, “he has been missing from the Sinclair duop for awhile and he hasn’t posted to his station branded Twitter account since the 14th.” The station was not telling viewers anything.
Then two days ago in a Patron Only story about how Simpson was still missing from the air and both employees and viewers were frustrated with the Sinclair station for not giving any information on Simpson’s job status?
Yesterday, FTVLive finally found Simpson as he was locked up in the Dayton/Montgomery County jail and charged with another drunk driving charge.
WKEF/WRGT and Sinclair have not told their viewers or even their staff as to what Simpson’s employment status was.
But, after we posted the story that he was arrested, WKEF/WRGT News Director Kevin Roach had this to say, "He was no longer employed by us at the time of this event. We will not comment any further."
So, basically it took this guy getting arrested for the station to come clean and say that Simpson was no longer working there?
Stations want viewer to watch them, they want viewers to trust them, but they don’t want to be transparent with viewers.
We have no clue why Simpson was let go from the station before his arrest, but the station should have been upfront with the viewers and their own staff for crying out loud.
How hard would have been to tell both viewers and the staff that, “Jamie Simpson no longer works here. We can’t get into details as to why that is, but we wish him and his family well.”?
I have said it before and I will keep saying it. If the Mayor of Dayton suddenly stopped showing up at work, do you think that WKEF/WRGT we be demanding answers as to why?
Like it or not, if you are a talent at a TV station, you are a public figure. You are held to a higher standard and that is the job you picked.
If Jamie Simpson worked as a manager at Walmart and was let go or arrested, it’s not news. But each night, this guy gave the weather to thousands of people and was out in the community.
Sinclair should have been more upfront from the begining.
Just saying…
