TV folks keep weighing in on the hot mess that is Nexstar’s KTLA.

Let’s open the Inbox….

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The whole Lynette Romero drama as seen from a competing station is truly amazing. I prefer not to say which one if you share my letter with your readers.

The affection the audience and team members had/have for Lynette, has a huge value. Viewers are invested in their news team, they come back time and time again to check in and see what's new with them. I'm glad KNBC viewers will be able to experience that and I hope NBC allows Lynette to be Lynette.

At our shop anchors/reporters are not encouraged to share much about themselves, in fact the news director makes sure they keep things newsy. The company constantly sends out social media reminders about what is appropriate and what is not before we hit the share button. If viewers don't get to know the people on air well then there's nothing to miss when they're gone.

Our station recently had focus groups take a look at our product and apparently it faired well, except the talent was never told if they came up on top. Why? Value/popularity = Money. Kinda makes me sad for us and happy for those like Lynette who took the plunge and decided to move on.

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Scott,

I can’t imagine this situation was brought on by Jeanne. I knew/worked with her all through her
career at KOMO-she was the best, kindest, caring person I have ever worked for. No GM at KOMO,
I knew or worked with them all, was as good as she was. She was a great buffer when Sinclair took
over and did everything to make the staff respected and important. The weekend visit, even though,
it seemed too little or too late, was, for her, a usual caring move.

This had to have come from the top, or from some lower level manager. She is too smart to have
initiated this.

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Let’s face it. Janene the GM showing up on a Sunday morning with breakfast burritos in hand was nothing but trying to quell a mutiny on her hands.

And why the whole weekend morning crew who already showed their displeasure at the way management handled it by putting together the tribute video and plane banner with Mester, didn’t walk out the door on Sunday to support Mester after he was suspended, is surprising.

You want to hit back at Nexstar and their asinine ways, walk out or boycott doing the show until Nexstar goes on the record apologizing for everything: way they handled Romero, way they handled Mester. Let’s see management put on the show suddenly without their crew in the morning.

But they should have done it Sunday, so the burritos must have worked.

Text Message:

Newsroom says Pete and Mester BOTH need to go in order to "heal" and move on.
If Mester is not let go... the clowns are controlling the circus.

He even walked out on his first shift back last Wednesday when he heard about the lynette statement that morning.

Even that move left producers in the assignment desk shuffling to try to make up for him walking out then...
He can't be allowed to come and go and do whatever he wants whenever at the expense of coworkers and the station.

Email:

I don’t usually write in but I think a key point has to be made. Anchors are stewards of the station. Their role is that of messenger/journalist. The KTLA anchor had no authority to apologize on behalf of the station and he had no authority to commandeer the airwaves for several minutes. Another anchor chose to cross the street. That’s absolutely her right, but you’ve worked in television stations. When someone announces they are going to a direct rival that’s usually the end: they leave the building. It’s true in sales & promotions & news. Now, if the anchor wants to take her out to a bar and throw a goodbye party that’s his option, but going rogue on someone else’s air is out of bounds and everyone I’ve talked to about this agrees he should be terminated for insubordination. If you can’t trust someone on-air you have to move on and regardless of his personal feelings or his reasoning he broke that trust. If you want to criticize the station for not paying her enough to stay, that’s understandable but it doesn’t let an incredibly unprofessional anchor off the hook because he can’t control his emotions.