The union representing workers at ABC6 is calling for a boycott of the station and NBC 10 in response to how WJAR-TV’s owner, Sinclair Broadcast Group, recently acquired the non-signal operations for WLNE-TV.
Meteorologist Kelly Bates is among the workers who lost their jobs at Channel 6 as part of the change in management. She said NABET-CWA, Local 18, is calling for the boycott because the union was not contacted before the change, and since the job cuts leave ABC6 unable to deliver news at even a previously barebones level.
Bates, a viewer favorite whose job loss resulted in more than 4,000 comments on her Facebook page, said it’s also bad for news consumers to consolidate the number of local news broadcasts in Rhode Island by using Channel 10’s content on Channel 6.
“When you have three broadcast news stations that are separate and distinct, you have three different voices,” she said during an interview. “When you have to take the three down to two, you’re eliminating a voice. And it also makes the market susceptible to being influenced, so to speak, by corporations, rather than being brought the news.”
Sinclair Broadcast Group, based in Maryland, owns or operates about 180 stations. It has been accused of cutting news resources at stations it acquires and for putting in place a conservative editorial standpoint.
Vic Vetters, general manager of Channel 10, and a spokeswoman at Sinclair’s corporate office did not respond to requests for comment.
Channel 6 has been a traditional ratings laggard in Rhode Island’s TV market, trailing behind Channel 10 and Channel 12, WPRI-TV.
Bates said it has been difficult for the station to make headway, given a lack of investment in reporting resources.
The boycott, backed by NABET-CWA, calls on viewers to express their displeasure to Vetters. It also asks public figures to decline interview requests from Channel 10 or Channel 6, and for advertisers to shun the stations.
NABET-CWA issued three demands: it calls for maintaining ABC6 as a distinct local news broadcast with its own programming; investing in journalism at the station; and bargaining for a contract with workers.
Media critic Dan Kennedy, a professor at Northeastern University in Boston, said he doesn’t expect a big impact from the boycott.
“The sort of boycott that’s being called for in Rhode Island is unlikely to have much success,” he said, “because of the difficulty in getting the word out so that members of the public even know that it’s taking place.”
