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Longtime Anchor on KTLA Resigns; Co-anchor is Suspended

And that's why my colleagues in TV refer to Nexstar as "Death Star." Horrible company to work for, they tell me.

Fun side note: Radio, not having nearly the drama of TV, tends to have fairly professional gossip sites and industry trade mags (e.g., All Access, RadioInsight, Inside Radio, etc.) But the TV news world has FTVLive— which makes TMZ look like The New York Times. It's fun to pop in, now and again.

And, naturally, they are running with this story: https://www.ftvlive.com/sqsp-test/2022/9/20/the-nexstar-mess-in-la

For a chuckle, here's a sample:

Some blame Nexstar and say that their cheap practices have hurt the station. A majority place the blame on News Director Pete Saiers. He is the one that wrote the “hostage note” for Sam Rubin to read on air. But, the people we have talked to said this is just one small example. Most said that Saiers is greatly lacking in people skills and his treatment of many on staff is “horrendous” according to staffers that spoke to FTVLive.
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So I wonder who will be on the weekend edition of KTLA morning News this weekend. They probably will call up reporters to fill in until things get settled
 
The L.A. Times just reported that Mark Mester was fired from KTLA this afternoon...

latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2022-09-22/ktla-anchor-mark-mester-fired-after-on-air-outburst-over-lynette-romeros-departure
 
The News Director WAYYYYYYYYYYY overreacted....and actual started the path of fire.... Mester may have overreacted himself, but to fire him just tells you what kind of work environment is going on at KTLA. This would have not happened under the late great incredible Hal Fishman.

At best, Mester should have been suspended for one week and let it go at that. But noooooooo....they decided to make the whole ordeal a thousand times more complicated and I wouldn't be surprised if attorneys don't get involved.

Paging Bill Handel.... Sweet James? Jacob Ermani? Larry Parker?
 
As someone who's worked in newsrooms for 40 years---

Mester invited management to toast marshmallows over his contract when he hijacked the script prepared by producers and approved by management last weekend and took it upon himself to call management's handling of Romero's exit "cruel, rude and inappropriate."

Yeah, they could have suspended him without pay, but at that point you're essentially saying anyone on your air can do that if they're willing to eat a couple weeks' worth of income.

But, if you read the L.A. Times piece ShawnHill1 linked to above, it becomes really clear that even if he could have survived, he pretty well killed that chance himself:

-----
After his segment, people in the newsroom said, they saw Mester ignore management’s requests to step into their office for a meeting. At one point, several staffers recalled Mester telling one of the news directors to “shut up” and said he refused to leave the building after being asked to do so.

During the exchange with management, Mester allegedly yelled obscenities that could be heard by other staffers in the newsroom.
-----

And yeah, of course attorneys will get involved. Mester's contract probably had a guaranteed severance package. His lawyers will argue KTLA needs to pay it. KTLA's will argue that Mester violated the terms of his contract and thus isn't entitled to the severance. There could be a battle over whether he's entitled to unemployment insurance (KTLA could challenge his application with the EDD). Maybe there's a settlement. Maybe there's not. All depends on how ticked Nexstar is and how good their lawyers are.
 
michael hagerty said:
As someone who's worked in newsrooms for 40 years---

Mester invited management to toast marshmallows over his contract when he hijacked the script prepared by producers and approved by management last weekend and took it upon himself to call management's handling of Romero's exit "cruel, rude and inappropriate."

Yeah, they could have suspended him without pay, but at that point you're essentially saying anyone on your air can do that if they're willing to eat a couple weeks' worth of income.

But, if you read the L.A. Times piece ShawnHill1 linked to above, it becomes really clear that even if he could have survived, he pretty well killed that chance himself:

-----
After his segment, people in the newsroom said, they saw Mester ignore management’s requests to step into their office for a meeting. At one point, several staffers recalled Mester telling one of the news directors to “shut up” and said he refused to leave the building after being asked to do so.

During the exchange with management, Mester allegedly yelled obscenities that could be heard by other staffers in the newsroom.
-----

And yeah, of course attorneys will get involved. Mester's contract probably had a guaranteed severance package. His lawyers will argue KTLA needs to pay it. KTLA's will argue that Mester violated the terms of his contract and thus isn't entitled to the severance. There could be a battle over whether he's entitled to unemployment insurance (KTLA could challenge his application with the EDD). Maybe there's a settlement. Maybe there's not. All depends on how ticked Nexstar is and how good their lawyers are.
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Early in my newspaper career, I stood up for a reporter whom I thought had been unjustly terminated, but did so in a polite note to the publisher (this was a small, family-run paper). I got an equally polite note back explaining and defending the decision -- which I still found too extreme for the offense -- and that was that. No repercussions for me, and the reporter moved on and had a successful career in community relations/PR. I'd only been in the business for about three years, but even then, knew that making a public stink about it would not turn out well. No matter what Mester thought of his boss, going off on live TV was inexcusable.
 
michael hagerty said:
-----
After his segment, people in the newsroom said, they saw Mester ignore management’s requests to step into their office for a meeting. At one point, several staffers recalled Mester telling one of the news directors to “shut up” and said he refused to leave the building after being asked to do so.

During the exchange with management, Mester allegedly yelled obscenities that could be heard by other staffers in the newsroom.
-----
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Well, if that's true— I don't feel too badly for him.

It's that old saying: You can vent. You can persuade. You can't do them at the same time.

Clearly, he was upset about the situation (rightly so) and decided to go out venting. Which isn't going to persuade bosses to let you keep your job afterward. People have to do what they have to do to be able to sleep at night. Mester exits TV entirely (or, at least, the LA market). But he sleeps like a baby knowing he kicked up a lot of dust for his injured colleague.

Deep down, we've all fantasized about having our own "Mad as Hell" moment. He got to actually live his.
 
henry said:
Well, if that's true— I don't feel too badly for him.

It's that old saying: You can vent. You can persuade. You can't do them at the same time.

Clearly, he was upset about the situation (rightly so) and decided to go out venting. Which isn't going to persuade bosses to let you keep your job afterward. People have to do what they have to do to be able to sleep at night. Mester exits TV entirely (or, at least, the LA market). But he sleeps like a baby knowing he kicked up a lot of dust for his injured colleague.

Deep down, we've all fantasized about having our own "Mad as Hell" moment. He got to actually live his.
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If he decides to stay in TV news, he will likely get picked up by another station in the market in short order.
 
sdwulfdawg said:
If he decides to stay in TV news, he will likely get picked up by another station in the market in short order.
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Did you read the Times article?

The first person he raises his voice to will have an actionable claim of the station knowingly creating a hostile work envrionment by hiring him.

That's assuming any ND in town could convince the GM or the corporate folks that when something happens that Mark doesn't like he won't savage them on the air.

Mark's best shot is in another market at a station that needs major market talent and doesn't read the Times.

I've seen guys end up working in Palm Springs TV for way less. It could be back to Santa Barbara or Redding (his only two prior markets).
 
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