Nexstar's Bad Week
/This week saw Nexstar stations fire two Anchormen, for two opposite reasons.
First, Nexstar’s KTVI (St. Louis) fired Anchor Vic Faust, after he went off on a disparaging rant against a female colleague.
And then, Nexstar’s KTLA Fired Mark Mester for coming to the defense of a female colleague.
Faust was rightfully sacked after appearing on the radio and while off air, he verbally attacked co-host Crystal Cooper.
Faust used profanity at least 40 times in a roughly four-minute tirade that berated Cooper for her weight and parenting skills, among other things.
The former Anchor called Cooper “fat,” “stupid, “nasty,” and said, “Your kids have a “blank” terrible mom. I feel sorry for them.”
You can listen to his rant here.
Next up on the firing squad was KTLA Anchor Mark Mester.
Mester headlines when he raked KTLA management over the coals live during the newscast. Mester was not happy with how the station treated his friend and co-anchor Lynette Romero when she informed management that she was leaving the station.
Many KTLA staffers said it was clear that he violated his services contract with the station. Mester was known inside the station for being a hothead.
If the station didn’t let Mester go, it would have sent a message to other staffers that the contracts are not worth the paper they are printed on.
Nexstar made the right call in letting both anchormen go, but it made for a rough week for the company in the media.
I think this is one week that Nexstar CEO Perry Sook is happy to see over.
But, there is always next week.