FTVLive FIRST told you that Sinclair was holding a company-wide satellite meeting with the staff on Monday to update them about the cyberattack against the company and the Sinclair stations.

Sinclair CEO Chris Ripley headed to meeting and sources say he appeared to be reading off a script and there was no opportunity for any questions.

Ripley made it clear that Sinclair employees aren’t allowed to talk to media or viewers about the attack according to sources that attended the meeting.

One of those at the meeting said, “He (Ripley) discussed the nature of the hacks as “disrupting some functions of business.” He made it mainly sound like our email was down and that is it. I think there needs to be a more accurate picture of what is actually happening?”

But, FTVLive has heard from staffers at a number of Sinclair stations that say it is a mess. We have heard some of the problems include, no access to desktop computers, no internet access, iNews is not accessible, teleprompter is therefore down, closed captioning cannot connect to the feeds, graphics systems are down, the websites is not functioning properly, phone lines down, weather graphics are not updating without connection, and email is not accessible.

Many employees are getting around the issue by using their personal computers to do much of the work.

“Sinclair is painting this story as being a minor inconvenience. It’s not. It’s impacting EVERY aspect of our newscast and operation. Advertisers, prospective employees, and the outside world have a right to know that the problem is much bigger than Sinclair is leading on. Chris Ripley should come out of his plush mansion to get a firsthand look at what is happening within his company. His insincere, scripted Zoom call leaves with me with more concerns than answers,” said one Sinclair staffer to FTVLive.

And then there is this, “With every form of communication down, our editorial meetings are being forced to meet in person while Covid is still running rampant, all while Sinclair has refused any sort of vaccine / testing mandate,” said one very concerned employee.

And this email to FTVLive from a Sinclair manager might sum this all up, “I am a manager in Sinclair...and WHAT A COMPLETE FUCKING MESS. Baltimore thinks because it works there it works everywhere. It does not.. and many of us are hung out to dry.”