Tegna's Comedy at Night
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Despite the fact that there is a global pandemic that has been botched by the Presidential administration from day one in DC. The U.S. Capitol in DC was breached by Trump supporters and some would say we are on the verge of civil war, Tegna’s WUSA (DC) gave their comedian 6 1/2 minutes on Friday to say goodbye from the station’s morning show.
While Reese Waters read the news about murders and death while wearing Donkey Kong and Kool-Aid T-shirts, he put on a tie and a jacket for his last morning show to say goodbye.
The Comic/Anchor isn’t leaving the station mind you, he is being moved to the 7 PM hour where he will replace longtime Journalist Bruce Johnson. After decades in the business, Johnson left WUSA, with a goodbye that was a lot less than 6 minutes, and is now being replaced by a comedian.
When DC needs Journalism more than ever, Tegna continues to give us comics.
In conference calls with the staff, management has continued to act as if hiring a comic was a stroke of genius and a wild success. The truth is, it hurt the station’s credibility, did not pop the ratings, and embarrassed an industry.
The managers bragged on the call that “CBS News did not want to do teases with Waters, because it would be bad for their journalists to be talking with a comedian,” said a station insider. “They acted like this was a good thing,” the insider added.
WUSA has not said what Waters will be doing at 7 PM, but management keeps describing it as an “innovative show.”
This country needs Journalism more than anything right now and that is especially true in our Nation’s Capitol. But, instead, the Tegna station continues to thumb its nose to the industry and go with the comic.
How bad is it? As one insider said, “Tegna’s Vice President of News was tweeting Waters to encourage him on his move to 7 PM.”
“When the person in charge of news at the company won’t stick up for journalism, we’re all fucked,” the insider added.
As for Bruce Johnson’s reaction, although retired, he continues to post on social media, he has said nothing about being replaced by a comedian.
I think the silence tells the story.
By the way, Speaking of CBS, on March 6, 1981, Walter Cronkite signed off after decades at the network. He took less than a minute and a half to say goodbye. Reese Waters took 6 1/2 minutes to say he was moving to nightside.
Just saying….
