What KMBC is telling viewers

A reader sent an email to KMBC-9 on Friday after reading about the age and gender discrimination lawsuit filed by three longtime on-air personalities there last week. Like many of you who commented on the original story, this reader took the allegations of these three women seriously -- as might be expected, since Channel 9 has spent 20 years putting these women into promotional ads, showing them to be committed, reliable and all in all, pretty darned trustworthy, at least regarding their ability to tell you what's happening locally.

Well, a response was not long in coming to the email, and it reveals just a glimpse of a TV station under siege as the reaction comes rolling in from outraged viewers.

It reads:

Thank you for your comment.

KMBC's station management is aware of the lawsuit filed by three employees who apparently are unhappy about minor schedule changes made many months ago. Covering the news is a 24/7 business. These employees are not the only ones who have had their schedules changed, nor will they be the last. KMBC has and will continue to assign personnel in a manner it deems appropriate to deliver the best news coverage to our viewership. Assignments are always made on the basis of business needs and never for discriminatory purposes, despite what others may falsely claim.

While we are disappointed that some of our viewers and members of the media may have drawn conclusions after hearing only one side of the story, we understand that some of the unfounded allegations in this lawsuit can be unsettling. However, allegations are just that, and we fully expect that when this litigation runs its course, it will be clear that there was never any basis for the lawsuit or the allegations. We appreciate your trust and patience and we value your feedback.

Regarding my role in this, I don't know how anybody in management at Channel 9 can be disappointed that I wrote the story as I did. If anyone knows how I write, it's the people who run KMBC-9 -- and surely they figured I would write something like what I did off a first-day news story, and in that sense, I did not disappoint.

Furthermore, if management read the comments on TV Barn to my story, they would not be disappointed that so many viewers are as pained as they are. They are, in fact, just the kind of audience KMBC-9 would like to have: readers, obviously educated, people who pay attention, and viewers who have identified closely with the three plaintiffs over their careers in Kansas City. Their outrage is not just at what is alleged in the lawsuit, but at what anyone who has watched KMBC-9 over the years could see happening with their own eyes. It's not like folks couldn't see these women's visibility diminishing. I think we've had a reasonably intelligent, low-snark conversation about that and related topics at TV Barn over the weekend. Was that disappointing to some inside KMBC? Only if they expect no criticism of their actions.

In truth, this is not an easy story for me to write, because I genuinely like and respect the people who are in management at KMBC. I think they've done a hell of a job over the years. And unlike other managers in town, they are not guarded, stuffy or addicted to cliches. They reflect Hearst's commitment to hiring the best, both behind and in front of the camera. But they, like our management here, are under tremendous pressure to deliver results -- perhaps not as great as McClatchy, since KMBC's parent company is majority owned by a private company (Hearst Corp.) has recently gone fully private. (Hearst had tendered an offer in 2007 to buy the shares it didn't own already, but that offer expired.)

In the TV business, however, much more than with print, you are burdened by small things. The look and feel of the news takes on tremendous importance. I recently spoke with Kirk Black, who runs two other stations in town, and he was speaking with justifiable pride about how little he had to spend to update the look of KCTV-5 news for high definition. He said it cost about $100,000. Now, I believe him -- but you switch on KCTV-5 news tonight and tell me where you see that extra 100 thou. It is amazing how expensive small things are in televisionland.

And at KMBC, a station that has over the years invested in Talent with a capital T, the small things don't involve just set design and format tweaks. KCTV went from a talent-driven station to a format-driven station under Black, and we all remember how pleasant that was. Now it's KMBC's turn. If anything, it has even larger talent-management challenges on its horizon. And obviously, with the lawsuit and the unsurprising (not "disappointing") public reaction, those challenges just got bigger.

Comments

[kmb]

"Those who do not remember history are doomed to repeat it."

Christine Craft. Christine Craft. Christine Craft.

[AES]

Ratings are the name of the game. Take it from someone who lived and breathed the 1983 & 1984 cases due to family obligation!