As the kids at the Merc say, My, What a Busy Week! I haven't even had a chance to blog this choice tidbit from WWeek's Murmurs. Former KPDX/KPTV account exec Cindy Bennington is suing Meredith for wrongful termination:
Bennington, an account executive for more than four years, says in her wrongful-termination lawsuit against Iowa-based Meredith Corporation that she was fired a year ago because she objected to "fraudulent billing" by the sister TV stations. Bennington's suit filed Feb. 21 in Multnomah County Circuit Court alleges Meredith engaged in "deceptive accounting practices that involved under-reporting" and "artificially inflated corporate quarterly earnings." Bennington's attorney, Richard Busse, wouldn't elaborate when Murmurs telephoned. KPDX general manager Kieran Clark also declined to comment on the lawsuit.
Quelle scandale. Anyone have anything to add?
light in the ethics department, but the print division is squeaky clean... this does not bode well for anyone involved.
AND they have a new president at the corporate level. He's not going to like having this on his watch. Particularly since the TV folks have never been the money makers to equal their very successful print division.
You might think that the well-compensated executives in this division would try to emulate the things that made the print division successful. Their 20 plus titles include Better Homes & Gardens, Traditional Home, Country Home, American Baby... not a tabloid in sight.
Former television president Kevin O'Brien humiliated them at his own expense. In this new era when media giants are divesting problematic divisions it may be that the writing is on the wall.
Anyone wanna buy some TV stations cheap?