A Reminder to the Staff at One LA Station
A couple of days ago in a Patron Only story, FTVLive told you how the crew at KTLA’s new entertainment show LA unscripted have appeared to completely ignore both the CDC and the State of California when it comes to the coronavirus.
In that story, FTVLive posted, “Many of the talents involved have been posting behind the scenes pictures and video to social media and you can see that it doesn't look like we've been fighting a deadly pandemic for 7 months!
“Understandably visually it doesn't look great to have masks and people standing far apart... but shouldn't health come first and be the priority not getting a good shot?” said one station employee to FTVLive.
After we posted the story, KTLA News Director Jason Ball seemed to react to the FTVLive post by sending out this email to the staff, which was obtained by FTVLive:
OK Jason, I see three co-workers in the picture above not wearing a mask and not practicing social distancing.
Here’s a few more from social media posts:
As for the email from KTLA GM Janene Drafs, FTVLive has a copy of that as well and it says in part:
Additionally, we are implementing some guidelines when it comes to vacations and time away from the station.
If you have plans to travel to a “hot spot” location for your vacation, we ask that you take all the CDC precautions to protect yourself while traveling, including practicing good sanitation and hygiene, maintaining social distance whenever possible, and utilizing face coverings. As an additional safety measure, if you travel to a “hot spot” we ask that you get a COVID-19 test with a negative result before returning to the building or engaging with another employee in person for work. This applies to those individuals who report to the station daily and/or occasionally and have visited a “hot spot” location or had close contact (spending 15 minutes or more within 6 feet) with a COVID-19 positive person. While we can’t prohibit staff personal travel to known “hot spots”, we do ask you to consider any travel risks as much as possible; not just for yourself and your family, but for the well-being of the other KTLA staff members. If you have any individual concerns, please chat with your Supervisor before leaving on vacation to evaluate any potential risk and to determine when it’s safely time to return to the station.
So, let’s see if the policy is put into practice.
Insiders tell FTVLive that KTLA Weather Anchor and LA Unscripted host Liberte Chan just spent a week in Miami. Florida.
I don’t think I need to tell you that South Florida is a COVID hotspot. Will KTLA tell Chan that she needs to get a Covid test and keep her out of the building until the test results comeback?
One staffer is not so sure, asking if, “management is going to be serious about our health instead of just sending emails and doing nothing like they have been for several months.”
We’ll have to wait and see on that.
Another staffer said sent an email saying, “Thanks to FTVLive for shining a light on what is happening here (at KTLA), many of us are concerned.”