Romero joined KTLA in 1998 and won multiple local Emmy Awards, including one in 2006 for her reporting on the Latino community. “We may not love the practice, but we know not to take it personally.” “Our industry has a practice of quickly and quietly releasing team members who move to the competition,” Ashley Regan, a producer for KTLA’s “Weekend Morning News” show, wrote in a statement posted to Twitter following Mester’s outburst. KTLA breached SAG-AFTRA election rules with Sam Rubin-Joely Fischer interview, committee says. “You’re constantly afraid you’re going to say the wrong thing.”Ĭompany Town SAG-AFTRA election board finds KTLA, Modine-led group broke rules “You would not believe the temper tantrums and the weird things that set him off,” said one longtime newsroom employee. Several sources at the station said it was common knowledge that staffers were concerned about Mester’s temper and what was described as his “disrespectful” behavior to women and had complained to management. Mester did not respond to The Times’ requests for comment Thursday. 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.ĭuring the exchange with management, Mester allegedly yelled obscenities that could be heard by other staffers in the newsroom. KTLA-TV Channel 5 celebrates its 75th anniversary this year after playing a crucial role in Los Angeles history, setting trends that revolutionized TV news.Īfter his segment, people in the newsroom said, they saw Mester ignore management’s requests to step into their office for a meeting. He then apologized to Romero, whom he called “his best friend.”Ĭompany Town From atomic blast to the Rodney King beating, KTLA helped shape L.A. He apologized, on behalf of the station, to viewers and said the handling of Romero’s exit “was rude, it was cruel, it was inappropriate and we are so sorry.” Romero did not respond to The Times’ requests for comment.ĭuring Saturday’s weekend morning show, Mester, Romero’s co-anchor, went off script with an emotional speech. She reportedly has been hired at KNBC-TV, L.A.’s NBC affiliate, as one of its weekday morning show anchors, sources said. Longtime anchor Lynette Romero’s abrupt exit from KTLA kicked off a hectic week that ended with the firing of her former co-anchor, Mark Mester.Īccording to station sources who asked to remain anonymous, Romero no longer wanted to work weekends and had asked management to allow her to work a weekday anchor shift so she could spend more time with her family, but she was told there were no openings. Television Here’s what led KTLA to fire ex-anchor Mark Mester after a week of drama “After nearly 24 years, Lynette Romero, our friend Lynette, has decided to move on from anchoring our weekend morning news,” Pete Saiers, the station’s news director, wrote in a statement that was read by entertainment reporter Sam Rubin during a Sept. Last week, KTLA announced that Romero, a longtime anchor of its popular weekend morning show, had left the station without saying goodbye to viewers, drawing wide outrage and criticism. The KTLA website no longer lists Mester on its roster of reporters and anchors. The station’s general manager, Janene Drafs, announced the firing with a brief speech during a meeting in the newsroom around 1:15 p.m., saying, “ is no longer at KTLA5,” staffers who were present for the announcement told The Times Thursday. KTLA-TV Channel 5 fired news anchor Mark Mester Thursday afternoon, days after he was suspended following an off-script segment in which he criticized the station’s handling of his co-anchor Lynette Romero’s abrupt departure, according to several employees at the station.
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