Eight current and Former employees who spoke to the Globe cited a variety of factors driving people away, including issues with the quality of the station’s content, overwhelming workloads, pay cuts, layoffs, and uncertainty over whether its private equity owners will keep the lights on. Most spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.
“It wasn’t a great atmosphere,” said David Rothstein, a former news anchor Boston 25 assignment editor who was laid off in 2021. “I was planning on leaving every day.”
Current and former staff say the recent departures feel more pronounced now than in years past and say the station is severely understaffed, with employees carrying more responsibilities.
“We’re very short staffed,” said a reporter at the Dedham-based station. “We go into battle every day under control.”
Although Boston 25 ranked second among Boston’s five news television stations in at least one rating category in January 2020, it has struggled in recent years to rise above the middle or bottom of Crowded pack in Boston. But it still attracts staff who want to work in a top 10 market.
It’s an example of how the audience and ambition of local TV news has shrunk in the digital age, as viewers have moved to social media, streaming services and other options, and the ad revenue that pays for newsgathering has fallen with them.
In a statement, Boston 25 said it is proud of its team’s work and noted that the Massachusetts Association of Broadcasters named it the state’s station of the year in 2023.
“It’s no secret that there are disruptions in the industry that have created pressure for local TV stations and we are positioning ourselves to operate more efficiently as we look to be the TV station of the future,” the statement said. “We remain committed to delivering critical news, weather and innovative journalism that helps viewers stay informed, safe and protected while fostering a positive and collaborative work environment for our valued employees.”
The decline in ratings has hurt all stations, but it affects some more than others, said Matt Ellis, former news director at WBZ-TV (Channel 4) in Boston and WPRI-TV in Providence.
“Is what’s happening at Channel 25 a sign that not all stations will be able to survive in the same way and do the same thing as before? Yeah, I think so,” said Ellis, who now owns a public relations firm.
Cost-cutting and an increased workload have affected the quality of the station’s programming, two former employees and one current Boston 25 reporter said.
For example, the station did not send staff to cover Celtics playoff games until Game 4 of the NBA Finals, said the current reporter there, which differed from other Boston stations such as WCVB, WHDH and WBZ.
And for years, Boston 25 has lacked a helicopter, which local stations send to help cover breaking news and provide different views for live coverage. That has hurt its ability to cover fires, shootings and other breaking news, three former reporters there said.
Once owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, Boston 25 was traded to Cox Media Group in 2014. The station dropped its decades-old name, Fox 25, in 2017 to differentiate itself from the fiery Fox News brand and boost ratings the low.
Boston 25 changed hands again in 2019, when Cox’s parent company sold its radio, television and advertising businesses — which retained the Cox Media Group name — to private equity giant Apollo Global Management. Three years later, hedge fund Standard General struck a deal to buy Boston 25, but it collapsed a year later.
Current and former employees criticized Apollo’s continued ownership, citing cost-cutting measures such as significantly cutting anchor pay and the slow replacement of departing workers. Cox Media Group, owned by Apollo, has laid off staff this year at other media outlets.
“They’re not a company with a rich history of journalism,” Rothstein said, referring to Apollo. “They are investors.”
Cox Media Group spokespeople did not respond to a detailed request for comment. An Apollo spokesman declined to comment.
Boston 25 laid off more than a dozen employees in 2021 and canceled several newscasts, the Boston Business Journal reported at the time. The station also laid off several workers in late June, according to two former employees.
Cuts and general uncertainty of the station’s future have all contributed to employee departures over the past several months, current and former employees said.
The challenges come at a time when news outlets across the media industry are struggling, particularly at the local level. Television news is still one of the main sources for local news, a A recent Pew Research poll found, although people are tuning in less since 2018.
It’s troubling “to see any part of the local television infrastructure wear out,” said Northeastern University journalism professor Dan Kennedy.
Among the departures from Boston 25 in recent months are: Hopkins, Welch, consumer reporter Jason Law and news director Sarah Burgess.
of exits have meant REMAINED employees have had to take on a lot of extra work, said six workers who left in recent years. For example, Rothstein said there were times when he was the only editor working on the assignment desk, which monitors potential news stories and dispatches staff. In earlier times, he had two or three other colleagues at the table with him.
“You can’t do 500 things and make them work,” Rothstein said.
Former employees also said that there are not enough on-air journalists to cover the programs. The Boston-based station’s 20 anchors and reporters are nearly half of the 39 it had in 2020, according to rosters posted on the station’s website. The station currently has jobs posted for an anchor/reporter, multi-platform producer, director of digital media and more. She has also tapped freelancers to help fill the voids left by departing anchors and reporters.
Boston 25 has discussed expanding its news program to more daytime hours as a way to cut costs, a current reporter said. Running more news is usually cheaper than paying to carry content from other networks, such as TMZ Live and Divorce Court, which air after Boston’s weekday morning show 25 this month . While this can help the station reduce costs, it can also put more strain on employees.
The staff departures and scheduling challenges come as Boston 25 remains close the middle or bottom of key ratings metrics in May and June, according to Nielsen data obtained by the Globe. The station ranked third among Boston’s five weekday morning news stations in total viewer impressions, which includes live TV and digital views. Meanwhile, it was fourth during the evening primetime in both May and June.
But in an important demographic that matters to advertisers — viewers ages 25 to 54 — Boston 25 came in last for the two shows starting at 5 and 11 p.m.
Amid the push for better ratings, the investigative team was expected to produce stories at a rapid clip that did not allow for high-quality, long-form investigations, a former employee said.
The people who worked for Boston 25 hope the station survives. But they worry about signs pointing in the wrong direction.
A current journalist added: “It is a crucial time for the future of this television station.”
Aidan Ryan can be reached at aidan.ryan@globe.com. Follow him @aidanfitzryan.