KGO/Disney Plan For New, Cheap Journalists Exposed By 415 Media; Under-Scale Content Providers Soon To Be Hired; Dread in Circle7 Newsroom; Launch Date Within Months; KABC Also In Mix; Exclusive

415 MEDIA EXCLUSIVE

KGO-TV --Disney plan "citizen journalist" hires; imminent program; union not thrilled but content; KABC also part of implementation; 900 Front Circle 7 newsroom livid 

IN A MOVE certain to be embraced by others in the market, Disney-owned, KGO-TV is in the process of hiring "citizen-journalists" and using them quite prominently in virtually all their news platforms; on the air; over the web; everywhere and every time, 415 Media has learned, exclusively.

The new hires --whom will also work at LA, Disney O and O, KABC, will have to join SAG-AFTRA, but will be paid considerably under the minimum scale, roughly $25 an-hour. Minimum part-time scale is around $350 a day so these new content providers will be working on the cheap but not that cheap.

I'm told the new hires will create stories; write their own copy; produce their segments; use station-equipped cameras to photograph their stories. They will encompass vast array of time slots and not be short-changed by full and part-time news/sports/weather on-air talents but you see the handwriting on the wall-- which is where rank and file KGO staff come into the picture.

As you can imagine they are livid. I'm being kind. They are angry, disillusioned, and apparently powerless as to the future business model. And that business model is Disney Incorporated, the multi-billion dollar behemoth behind the plan; the media company that doesn't even comp tickets to Disneyland for their TV employees. (They offer free parking and 20% discount on tickets that cost over $125)

Tom Cibrowski/KGO-TV President/GM

Even though he's rarely show his head since taking over earlier in the year, I hear staff is already barking at President/GM, Tom Cibrowski, a huge corporate cheerleader and enthusiastic advocate for the soon-to-be, modestly paid news squirrels --Cibrowski is said to be quite happy with the venture and plans a big newsroom party come launch date which is within a few months.

I'm sure the producers and staffers are simply doing cartwheels.

Calling on Costco for the cheese dip.