MEDIA / KEVIN BRASS : Don’t 14 Years Count, Fired TV Newsman Asks

After 14 years of covering every type of television news story for KFMB-TV (Channel 8), Jesse Macias was fired on March 31, 1986. No warning. Adios, Jesse.

Earlier this year, Macias filed a wrongful termination suit against the station and news director Jim Holtzman. After the case was switched to federal court, a judge granted a defense motion to dismiss the suit, on technical grounds, although he left the door open for Macias to refile by Dec. 7.

Macias’ attorney, Tas Panos, acknowledges that there is only a slim chance the case will ever be heard, since Macias, who filed the original suit on his own, did not go through proper channels when he was first terminated. If, in fact, the case doesn’t go to court, San Diegans will miss out on a juicy opportunity to hear a TV news station explain its criteria for on-air talent.

Now, Macias was no Sam Donaldson. But his journalistic integrity was good enough for Channel 8 for 14 years. He was fired just six months after returning to work after literally breaking his back on a story. While doing a feature on ultra-light planes, the plane in which he was flying crashed, leaving him laid up for several months with a variety of injuries, including a fractured vertebrae.

When news director Holtzman fired him, Macias, who was hired by Holtzman’s predecessor, claims he was told his “journalistic growth and development had been outstripped by every other broadcast talent in the San Diego area,” a laughable assertion, considering the journalistic abilities of the average San Diego television reporter.

Soon after Macias was fired, Channel 8 hired Greg Hurst and Stan Miller, who this week was dubbed a “Stud Puppet” by a local radio station. Both are young, good-looking talking heads.

Macias, neither young nor exceptionally good-looking by Gentleman’s Quarterly standards, was working without a written contract. After 14 years with the station, Macias was earning $36,000 a year, making him one of the lowest-paid reporters at the station. So money probably was not an issue.

Macias says he was given one memo from Holtzman indicating that his work needed to improve. But he says he was never told specifically what he needed to improve, nor was he given time to improve. Holtzman was out of town last week and unavailable for comment.

It would not be wrong or evil for Holtzman to fire a reporter if he simply didn’t like him or his work. Television reporters come and go, often for seemingly petty reasons. It’s the nature of the business.

However, Macias and his attorney argue that, after 14 years with a station, an employee should be given some consideration. Certainly, after so many years, it seems ludicrous to contend Macias’ journalistic abilities were not up to Channel 8’s lofty standards. During the tail end of Macias’ tenure on the air, Channel 8 was the top-rated station in the market.

Attorney William Sailer of Gray, Cary, Ames & Frye, representing Channel 8 in the suit, declined to comment on the case. In general, television station representatives often argue that they’re entertainment entities, with the right to dismiss performers just as a stage director can fire an actor for not fitting a role.

“We’re saying that you have to have good cause after 14 years,” Macias said. “Television news is a business, and I don’t care if they say it is entertainment. After 10 years I don’t think it’s right. An employer should try to work with a person.”

Macias, who unsuccessfully ran for the 8th District City Council seat last year and then worked on Mike Aguirre’s unsuccessful bid for the same seat, says Holtzman’s negative comments made it impossible for him to find a full-time television job in San Diego. He is now working with “America’s Shopping Channel” and, ironically, hosting a weekly public affairs show for KFMB-FM (B100), a few yards down the hall from the Channel 8 newsroom.

Macias is seeking punitive damages in the suit. But he also wants to know why he was fired.

“The broad issue is the concept of firing at will,” Macias said, noting that it should be an issue of concern to all television news personalities. “If you’re starting to get a few gray hairs, out you go.”

KGTV-TV (Channel 10) co-anchors Michael Tuck and Kimberly Hunt just can’t seem to keep their relationship, whatever form it may take, out of the news. Thursday morning a woman phoned Roger Hedgecock’s KSDO-AM (1130) talk show to say how happy she was that Tuck and Hunt had bought a house together in her Scripps Ranch neighborhood. Followers of this rather queasy soap opera will remember that Tuck, known as Channel 10’s avenging angel of the airwaves for his righteous “Perspective” pieces, has been forced to deny rumors about his relationship with Hunt ever since he separated from his wife in June. Contacted Thursday about the KSDO report, a noticeably testy Tuck said, “I have no intention of responding to questions spawned by tabloid journalism.” The next day Hunt called to further clarify. “It’s imperative that people know the lady is wrong,” she said. “We live in the same neighborhood. We’re great friends and we spend a lot of time together.”

In an eerily Gary Hart-like statement, former Mayor Hedgecock, in discussing Tuck and Hunt, practically challenged his KSDO listeners to inspect his personal life, pointing out that he and Tuck are public figures open to scrutiny. . . . Sources at KNSD-TV (Channel 39) are saying that negotiations between Group W and the station’s current owner, Gillett Communications, for the sale of the station have broken down. Industry sources agree that, after three months without movement, a deal is unlikely, although it doesn’t mean KNSD is completely off the market. . . . The Oceanside-based Blade Tribune is preparing to launch a Saturday edition in February. . . . San Diego magazine is looking for a replacement for senior editor Maribeth Mellin, who resigned to return to free-lance writing. . . . KVSD-AM (1000) sports director Keith Bennett has been calling a “celebrity” sports expert each week to predict the weekend’s football games. So far, the most successful grid prognosticator has been a gas-station attendant who picked up a phone Bennett called at random.