On September 14, veteran entertainment news reporter and KTLA-5 team member Sam Rubin shared the news that well-known 24-year station veteran Lynette Romero had exited what is today the West Coast flagship station for the nation’s biggest owner of broadcast television stations, Nexstar Media Group.
“KTLA management had hoped she would stay here her entire career and KTLA worked hard to make that happen, but Lynette has decided to move on to another opportunity elsewhere,” Rubin told viewers.
Romero’s departure was the talk of the town, and came as a surprise to many. And, it led one KTLA anchor to elicit an emotional response on-the-air last Saturday. It is now known that the nearly five-minute “apology” to viewers has cost him his job.
In an act some may consider unusual, Mark Mester, with co-anchor Megan Telles to his right, began the 8am hour of the KTLA 5 Morning News on September 17 by deviating from a normal segment where the four-member team “usually checks in to see how everyone is doing.”
But, Mester said, “Obviously things look a little bit different this morning.”
That’s because it was the first Saturday morning newscast without Romero at the anchor desk. And, that was something Mester felt compelled to address to viewers.
“I’m going to take some time to ask to speak directly to you,” he said before beginning a four-minute “apology” for Romero’s absence and departure from KTLA. “I want to start up right now by offering an apology to you. What the viewers experienced was rude, it was cruel, it was inappropriate, and we are so sorry.”
Mester also wanted to say sorry to Romero, expressing his love for her as a colleague. “You really are my best friend, and you did not deserve what happened to you on Wednesday.”
Mester then directed a producer to bring to viewers a photo featuring Romero and Mester with VP/GM Janene Drafs, who has been leading KTLA since early 2020 and is a RBR+TVBR 2022 Top Local TV Leader.
He called Drafs “a terrific woman,” adding that all the station can say about Romero is that “she has an opportunity” and wanted to take it. But, in the process of that conversation, Romero’s departure was delivered in a statement read by Rubin. That’s what irked Mester. “It was unfortunate, it was inappropriate, and we are so sorry about that,” he shared with viewers, making a statement some may view as one from KTLA and not from Mester himself. “Lynette deserved to say goodbye. It didn’t happen … This was a mistake.”
A gift to Romero that Mester could not mention on the air was “flying over” KTLA’s offices and studios in Hollywood that morning, he added. It was an airplane carrying a banner. Mester concluded his comments while visibly emotional, noting, “I don’t even know how we are going to move the show forward without you.”
Mester then moved to give “dignity and grace” to Romero, “which is what this station should have done from the beginning,” as a video montage of Romero’s time at KTLA played on-screen — noting that she began at the station with the legendary Hal Fishman, who died in August 2007. The birth of Romero’s daughter, Olivia, was shown on KTLA.
Mester shared that Romero lost her mom “several months ago” and just sent Olivia off to college. Thus, the timing of her exit from Romero was even more frustrating to Mester, who then yielded to his news team colleagues to see if they had anything to share. They took a more diplomatic approach with their brief comments as Mester concluded the segment, stating, “We didn’t give her a proper goodbye.”
That was Mester’s view, not that of KTLA nor of Nexstar. As such, Mester was immediately suspended with pay by the station, FTVLive reports.
Drafs then arrived at KTLA on September 18, according to The Desk reporter Matthew Keys. Drafs told staffers that, again, it was Romero’s decision to move on from KTLA. Drafs compared Romero to a football player who was leaving one team for another — a sign that Romero may be heading to a rival. FTVLive says she’s heading to KNBC-4 to anchor its weekend morning show, putting her in direct competition with KTLA just as KCBS-2 & KCAL-9 ramps up its new morning news blocks, a move that will see it compete directly against KTLA-5 starting at 4am weekdays.
According to The Desk, Drafs’ September 18 visit concluded with an announcement that free breakfast burritos were being provided to all in the newsroom that day. Meanwhile, Mester had obtained an employment attorney. That proved to be fortuitous, as Nexstar and KTLA found Mester to have violated an anti-disparagement clause in his contract, sources tell The Desk. As such, Mester on Thursday (9/22) was fired; at 1:15pm Pacific, Drafs addressed KTLA newsroom staffers in a brief speech, noting, “Mark is no longer at KTLA5,” the Los Angeles Times reports, citing KTLA staffers present at the meeting.
The Times also reports that KTLA News Director Pete Saiers wrote the statement regarding Romero’s departure that was read by Rubin. Mester had stated on-air that he did not know who the author was.
