Oregon Media Insiders

I worked with Gary many years ago. A class guy, an excellent journalist and exactly what KEZI's been lacking for almost a decade.

Good luck Gary!

Probably a good move for struggling KEZI. My sources tell me he is a bit "old school", which might actually be a good thing for KEZI. I would expect a more traditional look and more traditional way of reporting. Again, probably not a bad thing.

I also worked with Gary years ago and he was our go-to reporter. Always solid. I imagine he'll be a great influence on young reporters who need to learn the basics. Good luck Gary and congrats to KEZI. After months of misery, you finally get some good news.

I have heard that he was one of the best investigative reporters around in his day, and maybe he will pass that along to the others. But, I have also heard that while ND at KNDO, there was alot of bad managment decisions and horrable moral. I hope that things will be different in the future for the KEZI Team.

In honor of Gary returning to the northwest I'm going down to my local 7-11 and make me a Cheesy-G. Heck I might even make me a Sloppy-Don.

Oh no. I feel so bad for all those folks at KEZI. Gary may have been a good reporter, but he's got no business whatsover being a news director. Most of the horror stories you will hear from KNDO are true. Expect a mass exodus at KEZI.

Did this happen before Jonathan Mitchell took over at KHQ? Mitchell worked under Hatfield down at KDRV, so I'd find it hard to believe he wouldn't provide the lowdown on this guy. A little Googling shows opinions splitting both ways. Interesting times.

I've heard that this guy has been a total nightmare so far. Screaming at reporters out in the open, resorting to humiliation tactics to get what he wants out of people...he sounds like a nut case! It seems not all reporters are cut out to be ND's.

I am astounded at the negative comments about Gary. I knew him when the the two of us were radio reporters in Spokane, Washington and I simply can't reconcile the Gary I read about in some of the comments and the Gary I knew then and, to some degree, now. He's a smart and decent guy. (If this is an example of how people are treated in the news biz these days, I'm glad I'm out of it). Good luck to him.

Having worked with Gary now for the few months he has been at KEZI I can honestly say he is not a good News Director. Trying to get anything through to this guy is like reasoning with a brick wall. If you Google his name an email comes up explaining almost in detail what he is doing at KEZI except it was at a different station. I don't doubt Gary was a great reporter in his day but he is not the leader KEZI needs. As for the exodus, most people who can leave already have. It is sad when the floor crew out numbers the reporters/anchors and neither want to stay working there very long (4 hours, I think is the standing record for the fastest it took someone to quit). When certain employees find the means to leave and do so, KEZI will be 10 feet under. KEZI needs a News Director who will stand up for the newsroom utilize some of the talented people left and not be the "no questions asked, whatever you say, yes man" that management wants.

The few good people left at K SLEEZY I have no balls to stand up to the Dictator (the singer formerly known as Mark Hatfield from KDRV). He is a madman on the loose. His style is to intimidate, threaten, etc. Gary is just a puppet for Mark. Mark is running the news room from the GM's office.

I don't know of one person that is happy there in any department. Accounting, News, Sales, Traffic, etc. everyone wants out. You could cut the tension with a knife there.

Working for Mark Hatfield is akin to toiling for a snake handler. When you're new, you're golden. But watch out. Never turn your back on a snake, or the handler. The guy is a brute, a thug and an inconsiderate swine who would sell his mother if it brought him a promotion. The guy undercuts long-time employees in favor of the newest - someone he hired versus someone he did not. I know this from personal experience and I quit the place within a month of Hatfield's appointment to News Czar for all of Chambers operations. He smiles out of one side of his mouth while he sticks the knife in and turns the blade a few times. The folks at KDRV walk around in a daze, wondering when the shoe is about to drop. I know because I saw it first hand. Talk about a bunch of paranoid freaks ... of course, if I had to answer to a beast like Hatfield, I'd be in shock too. I saw the future at KEZI - it stunk and I left. Hatfield had McLelland by the short hairs and squeezed until the ND couldn't take it any more. Then, Hatfield fired him - just the sort of evil one would expect from a person of Hatfield's style. In short, he wanted to climb to the GM seat and he did. Now it is his turn to try and bail out the rapidly sinking ABC affiliate. Given his Human Resources track record, I'll give him a year or perhaps two before the Chambers family grows weary of the revolving door. In the meantime, the poor buggers who must continue working there to support themselves or their families can only be utterly miserable. Get out now and let Hatfield and the Chambers blow smoke up each other's backsides.