KSL defectors | The Salt Lake Tribune

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Congratulations, Tribune, for excellent coverage of the fall from grace of KSL-TV's news operation ("Utah TV viewers continue to abandon KSL Ch. 5," Tribune, March 3). As long-time viewers, my wife and I now watch only on weekends, when the anchors deliver the news without all the phony posturing.

Things started going south when Mark Willes of Deseret Management Corp. mandated that KSL's news specialists rewrite their stories for use in his emasculated Deseret News. Forcing TV reporters to rewrite for print media is a poor attempt to produce news on the cheap. That's one reason news anchor Bruce Lindsay left.

Then came two male anchors who try hard to be clever but lack substance. One would think that KSL would be more attuned to gender equality. The two strutting males overwhelm the newscast.

Then there is the irony of falling ratings in spite of the elaborate, expensive new set. That gaping hole distances us from the newscasters and is distracting rather than welcoming. Instead of concentrating on the news, we are constantly wondering when someone is going to slip on that shiny, slick, multi-level floor.

Thanks for helping us realize we are not alone in our defection.

Paul C. Richards

Orem