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Fire, insult and gag professional news people; a perfect example of how not to start a new journalism venture. But that’s just what KFTY-TV50 in Santa Rosa, Calif., decided to do. Management told staffers, while they worked on the evening newscast, that the news would not air and that they were all fired.

A double-entendre photo opportunity! This is what KFTY-TV50 did to its employees and the blinders nicely show how management at the station must see the world. I love photo efficiency.
Photo by CSD2006

This led to a widespread condemnation from speculation among the blogging community that the station is a cheapskate looking to make easy cash off others’ work.

Plus, the station pissed off at least some of its viewers. Yeah, the ones who are now supposed to give them content so they can make money. Wow! A trifecta of poor taste, bad management and lousy PR!

Let’s take a look at some quotes:

News staff who were laid off were prohibited from discussing the station's decision as part of their severance agreement. - The Healdsburg Tribune

Translation: Media-created censorship of professional journalists about a major news story. Nice.

Frankly, I think we're going to do a much better job of covering local issues than we are doing right now. - John Burgess, KFTY-TV50’s general manager

Translation: Some kid with a cell phone makes a better reporter than you.

I don’t know that Burgess could have handled this any worse than he did. If he treats pros this way, how will he treat the amateurs he’s banking on? Even if it wanted to submit content, how can the community possible trust him with its work?

I think building a community based news outlet can succeed, but first it takes an understanding of what makes communities work. Trust builds good relationships. Betraying the trust of the community only sets a news outlet up for future failure.