Assignment desk editor Alan Henney of broadcasting division flagship WUSA-TV told colleagues in an e-mail on Wednesday that consultants and "out-of-touch corporate management have ruined the newscasts with repetitive Web clutter, endless sidebar packages, and their preoccupation with the Internet."Then, he hit the send key at 12:47 p.m. ET. Read what he wrote.
Assignment desk editor Alan Henney of broadcasting division flagship WUSA-TV told colleagues in an e-mail on Wednesday that consultants and "out-of-touch corporate management have ruined the newscasts with repetitive Web clutter, endless sidebar packages, and their preoccupation with the Internet." Then he hit the send key at 12:47 p.m. ET. Here's what he wrote:
ReplyDeleteSubject: Goodbye from Alan
This message will come as a surprise.
I worked on the assignment desk and I enjoyed the work I did with all of you. You are some great co-workers. But I am not receiving the support I feel is needed to continue to attempt a quality news product on the weekends.
After receiving my master’s from GWU, I spent my life pursuing a career in journalism. Paul Irvin brought me on as a paid tipster in March of 2000. Then Tony Castrilli offered me the part-time weekend desk position in 2005.
In addition to weekends, for the past three years I volunteered to work unfilled weekday shifts and major holidays, often neglecting my ailing mother. But I treasured every shift, and never once called out sick or missed a day of work.
As we discussed in ethics class yesterday, the top-down decision-making approach is a flawed model.
WUSA frequently lacks the discussion that is vital to the success of a vibrant news operation and falls into this model. Many of us are reluctant to say anything, and the suggestion box on the first floor is not enough.
The consultants and out-of-touch corporate management have ruined the newscasts with repetitive Web clutter, endless sidebar packages, and their preoccupation with the Internet.
You won’t find a blog anywhere that will generate enough revenue to support a news operation of this size, there are simply too many. We’ve heard regular speak of “Web Winners,” but what ever happened to the “News Winners?” A dying breed?
IT IS TIME EVERYBODY WORK A DAY ON THE ASSIGNMENT DESK TO FIND OUT WHAT IT IS LIKE.
The next time you holler at one of my colleagues on the assignment desk, put yourself in their position. The WUSA assignment editors are conscientious, diehard news people who work extended shifts without union benefits, never had a meal buyout or OT, and hardly get a chance to eat lunch.
The assignment desk is the WUSA switchboard, the help desk for all of WUSA and the rest of humanity. The assignment desk does pretty much everything nobody else does. TOO MUCH. How many of you call just to ask for another employee’s phone number you should have already gotten from Renee’s list? Please be thoughtful of assignment desk workers, and volunteer to work a shift to see what it is like.
We are doing less news gathering these days and more information posting. Somebody needs to be driving the news machine at all times, actively pursuing news leads. We’ve lost our focus.
Any corporation that allows employees to blog as an excuse for not reporting to work on time is not an organization with which I want to be associated.
Effective immediately, I am placing myself on permanent furlough from the Gannett Corp. I will be mailing back my card later today.
I am frustrated, as many of you are. Please don’t let that discourage you from staying in touch. As I said, you have been great, and I’ll miss working with you.
Thanks for the great times.
Wow.
ReplyDeleteHe's mad as hell, and he's not going to take it any more.
ReplyDeleteSounds like he's not cut out for work on a TV assignment desk and is upset at coworkers. So lets not make Big Bad Gannett the bogeyman just to fit your worldview.
ReplyDeleteGood luck, Alan. You deserve much better, as do so many good people at Gannett companies.
ReplyDeleteIt's pretty clear, at least for anyone who understands the English language, that he's making "Big Bad Gannett" the bogeyman.
ReplyDeleteThat's not what it sounds like at all.
ReplyDeleteAlan Henney gets the Mistreated Gannett Employee Hero Award. Good for him!!!
ReplyDeleteIf more employees would simply walk... but with loud steps ... out the door, this company would wake up....
Oh, then go right back to sleep....
How refreshing to read about someone with a shred of ethics. He'll be valued somewhere else. That, I'm sure of.
ReplyDeleteWah.
ReplyDelete"We are doing less news gathering these days and more information posting."
ReplyDeleteConcise truth.
Goodluck, it is all Gannetts fault
ReplyDeleteGannett is a dying company. It's full of incompetent JackAss managers.
Sounds like there are some jackass non managers as well!!
DeleteA bit more information. First, Alan was not a fulltime employee but rather the week end evening and fill in part timer. But that certainly does NOT minimize what he said.
ReplyDeleteHe is a highly skilled, creative and driven journalist who has published books on police and fire communications monitoring and operates a website dedicated to the same. He also writes and edits a weekly (in season) internet blog and radio news show focused on news in the Delaware resort community of Rehoboth Beach. His scoops are many.
I worked with him several years ago and immediately appreciated his insight and no BS approach to hard news coverage.
The poster who said he was not making the boogyman of Gannett must have little ability to process nuance in a communique because the root of the problem is the constant homogenization and lack of immediacy and emotion in the stations' presentation.
Who else but Gannett to blame for 7 GM's and 8 News Directors in 13 years?
I would be happy to again have Alan as a colleague.
Good God man! Get a grip. You get paid, you take the money and you do the work. Just get on with it! You sound like a complete emotional wreck.
ReplyDeleteGo outside and give your head a shake.
Any corporation that allows employees to blog as an excuse for not reporting to work on time is not an organization with which I want to be associated."
ReplyDeleteAnyone know what this means?
Lougee is as much as a ASS as is Dubow!!!
ReplyDeleteAnd lets completely ignore the fact that local TV news has been going to hell nationwide for years. It's all Gannett's fault. Wah Wah.
ReplyDeleteKudos to him!
ReplyDeleteKPNX 5PM news show (in Phoenix) has become a total waste of time with nothing but teases to "see more at azcentral.com" and reading viewers' comments on the air: "Billy Bob in Mesa is fed up with AIG bailouts" or "Joelle in Paradise Valley thinks AIG executives work hard for the money" (yes we really have a Paradise Valley -- though it's neither paradise nor a valley). No news, pointless drivel.
He's absolutely right about the quality of news on WUSA. Unfortunately, the competition in the DC market is no better. It's gotten to the point that half the "news" is stuff I read 2 days ago online. I've been convinced for some time now that the so-called reporters are just spending their days in the office web surfing and reporting on the cool stuff they found. The degree of credulousness is shocking. It doesn't seem to occur to them to actually question and investigate the validity of much of what they report on.
ReplyDeleteHow many of you call just to ask for another employee’s phone number you should have already gotten from Renee’s list?
ReplyDeleteI don't work there, but this made me laugh because I can identify. We've got our own lazy people who call the copy desk and want to know stuff that they could easily find on a list or in an e-mail. It's maddening.
Ditto that, 10:16 p.m. But it's job security, in a sense.
ReplyDelete5:08 PM: My guess is that reporters were coming to work late by claiming they were blogging from home - and whether that was true or not, Alan found it a dubious excuse.
ReplyDeleteThat's how I read it, anyway.
Alan leaving is WUSA's loss. I know Alan both professionally and personally and can say he is an asset to any news gathering agency. Alan took the job not because he was desperate for a paycheck, but because he loves the news. When he goes home he does not watch T.V. or take part in the trend of the day, he gathers news. He turns on his scanners and two way radios and listens for news. Real news not packaged statements or opinions of nobody's who write to the website. He does it because it interests him, like a hobby, and he is one of the best. If something is happening on the crime or fire beat Alan is often one of the first to know and with his years of experience and contacts gets the details quickly. The problem is it seems today you can hand management, or a reporter a story and they wait for a press release to read. There is no questioning of the release. Even when more details are known, if they are not confirmed by an official,or another station is not saying it, it's not news.
ReplyDeleteThe move to bogging and internet to push T.V. news is a bust. No one who watches local evening news is going to give it the attention and time online they do on the T.V. The people watching are doing so as something to do while making dinner, getting ready for work, or before bed. Those people are not going to spend a half hour or hour reading the evening news. They are going to tune to the T.V. station that is still broadcasting it without pop up ads and 15 second ad videos before being able to see online media.
I am sorry to see you go Alan you are a dedicated newsman and are right to be frustrated watching the business get watered down. I have always seen you as a fan of WUSA and someone with a personal desire to see them do good. They have lost a huge asset.
Alan... sorry to see you go, but I rest knowing that it will be for better work, which will benefit the next corporation in the end. Let me know when and where you land again, and my tips will resume there!!!
ReplyDeleteI worked with Alan at 9 when he was a tipster and have had the pleasure of working with him in my PR career. He's a solid guy who has always worked his ass off to inform the viewer. And his tips were invaluable.
ReplyDeleteSince another person put it better, I will repost what they wrote...
He is a highly skilled, creative and driven journalist who has published books on police and fire communications monitoring and operates a website dedicated to the same. He also writes and edits a weekly (in season) internet blog and radio news show focused on news in the Delaware resort community of Rehoboth Beach. His scoops are many.
I worked with him several years ago and immediately appreciated his insight and no BS approach to hard news coverage.
The poster who said he was not making the boogyman of Gannett must have little ability to process nuance in a communique because the root of the problem is the constant homogenization and lack of immediacy and emotion in the stations' presentation.
Who else but Gannett to blame for 7 GM's and 8 News Directors in 13 years?
I would be happy to again have Alan as a colleague.
I don't know Alan. Sounds like he's probably a nice guy. But also sounds like he has none of the backbone, self confidence or thick skin needed to be a journalist. Don't think it's fair at all to blame Gannett for that.
ReplyDeleteJim I worked for Gannett & spent 41yrs there(WUSA) & towards the end of my career was trated as a # not as a person as alot of other people were, so for those that havn't been there don't know what there talking about.
ReplyDeleteAlan you are right wusa has been not good lately with some changes they made
ReplyDelete9 has become a toilet. Managerial incompetence, managerial nepotism (how did one manager's girlfriend get hired?), conflicts of interest, really dumb ideas, newscasts where they should just air the teleprompter, and employees who really care about the company and who were let go for no real reason at all.
ReplyDeleteIt's almost an impossible place to work, and the under lying tone is much like a funeral for a relative who died too young. We have meetings with management on a regular basis, and many of us wonder why they even bother inviting us. Why waste our time when all they do is dictate from up high what they want us to do, regardless of whether it makes sense, which it usually doesn't.
Your a good guy, Alan. The conditions in this hole should be public. Good luck to him.
You people throwing bricks at Alan Henney (who you admit you don't know) would be better off listening and learning from what he said. But that would require thought and contemplation, both of which seem in rare supply these days, so I don't expect you will.
ReplyDeleteI worked as an editor for WUSA for 6 months in 2007, and all i can say is Alan you are correct sir. The decision makers at 9 have taken every step possible to remain number 4 in the D.C. market. They dont appreciate hard workers at all, not now and not before this economic trouble. And as far as news gathering at 9, thats a joke.
ReplyDeleteWow I'll miss calling WUSA and hearing "9 News, Alan".
ReplyDeleteAlan is a valued asset for other folks at CBS stations up and down the east coast.
No Gannett is not the only company which has at times forsaken good news, for the sake of ratings or money, but not being the only one doesn't excuse or abdicate responsibility for doing better.
Maybe the folks at WUSA will simply ignore it, hire someone else, and move on.
But maybe just in a small but measurable way someone will make some sort of change which makes WUSA better.
When Jim uses the word "flagship," he pronounces it very slowly and carefully.
ReplyDeleteThe word has a different meaning for him than it does for normal, rational members of society.
...and to think Kathryn Graham and the Washington Post used to own this station. A far, far cry from the early One & Only. If it weren't for the FCC crossownership rules the would still be running the place, but alas PNS/WaPoCo is a newspaper company in trouble too. Is Gannett just driving its media properties off a cliff?
ReplyDeleteDesk people everywhere take a lot of abuse - it's the nature of the beast. If the story's a hit, the reporter gets the credit. If it's a loser or there's a problem, the desk takes the fall.
ReplyDeleteIt comes with the territory. But Henney's right about two important things.
1. Consultants hired by frightened and out of touch managements have made difficult economic situations worse, not better.
2. When you have no union protection, you're screwed. So, WUSA desk folks, why don't you do what your counterparts at NBC did - get a union? It's not that hard.
for years, WUSA was a cash cow for Gannett. As long as the bux rolled in, the know it alls in Arlington and now McClean worried about other mundane things. But then a funny thing happened. The Internet. Sure caught them by surprise! All of a sudden, we had to work smarter and watch the bottom line. The assignment desk became a shell of it's former self as the quality people left and the minor leaguers filled the chairs. Why? Because the corporate chairs were changinging as well. Satellite competition was draining the reserves and the technology was pressuring the "one and only" way to do business. Old timers saw the light and left for higher ground as soon as they could. Nights and weekends were left to the dregs who meant well but didn't understand that the bottom line was more important than the by line. A decent news director wouldn't go near the place because of the puppet strings attached to the position.
ReplyDeleteAs Mr. Henny has surmised, fluff doesn't draw eyeballs, but it cost $$$ to do the news. Without the commitment on both sides of the fence, viewers keep clicking the remote unless 10+ inches of snow is mentioned. I worked there for 15 years and watched the quality go out the door a little bit each day. Sad. But that's the reality of communications today, You Tube, Twitter and Google. I miss doing television, but not the corporate hacks who were more interested in looking good than doing it right.
Around the bowl and down the hole rolls WUSA and the rest of the Gannett empire.
ReplyDeleteGannett has taken mistreating employees to a new low nearly everyday.
And I remember when they only "stumbled over dollar bills to pick-up nickels"!
Pretty bad when Nexstar is kickin' your tail on a daily basis.
ReplyDeleteas a former [26 yrs] wusa emp i can understand why he quit, i watched while some of the most stupid people took the # 1 station in dc and turned it into a station that cant beat anybody in town in the ratings for any newscast. while owned by evening news we ruled, had the best news sports and wx on the east coast. i watched as the stock fell from around $80.00 a share to what it is today $ 2.69/ share. i was promised by gannett a retirement of $2200.00/ mo but am only receiving $850.00/ mo and was told when i complained tough shit. i got the shaft bigtime shafted in florida
ReplyDeleteAll anyone has to do to get a sense of what brought on the memo is watch a news broadcast on WUSA and one on any other Washington station. The quality gap between the Gannett station and the others is enormous. The WUSA screen is filled with extraneous doodads that add nothing but distraction. The reporters and anchors are laughably low-rent. So whatever you think of the poster, his take on the news programming of Channel 9 is spot on.
ReplyDeleteAlan Henney is a remarkable journalist and human being. He cares not only about the truth and presenting the news accurately, but about the people who are involved. Any news agency will be that much better for having Alan on their team.
ReplyDeleteSincerely,
Patrick L. Brown
By far, the worst local newscast in Washington. They are not on my side.
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