Union Seeks Settlement For Kiro News Anchors

One advertising slogan goes: "Quality is Job 1."

For at least one local TV news operation, quality sometimes takes a back seat to quantity.

That's what two senior news anchors at KIRO-TV believe, anyway. In testimony last summer delivered as part of a labor dispute filed by the union that represents TV anchors, Channel 7's Susan Hutchison and Gary Justice said that KIRO added a newscast that fell short of the station's usual standards, and also degraded the quality of the station's 11 p.m. news.

The testimony followed an unfair-labor-practice charge filed by local American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, which wants KIRO to compensate Justice and Hutchison for the extra work it takes to anchor a 10 p.m. newscast produced by KIRO but aired on KTZZ-TV, a local independent station.

Hutchison and Justice did not initiate the complaint, and TV news anchors are seldom candidly critical about the programs they front. In this instance, Hutchison and Justice were called to testify under oath.

A National Labor Relations Board judge last month decided in favor of AFTRA. The union plans to meet next week with KIRO to hammer out a settlement.

Tony Hazapis, head of the local AFTRA, said he will try to negotiate for more money or other compensation for AFTRA members who present the extra newscast, including weatherman Harry Wappler and sportscaster Steve Raible. Hazapis said he also believes administrative law judge Joan Wieder's decision empowers him to negotiate with KIRO, if he chooses, to devote more resources to improving the quality of the 10 p.m. newscast.

Hutchison testified:"It's demoralizing to me because there are no resources put into the program that would be characteristic of the kind of work that we do on our other newscasts."

Arguments to the contrary by KIRO's news director Gail Neubert failed to convince the judge.

KTZZ began airing the imported 10 p.m. newscast in September 1991, in exchange for letting KIRO sell some advertising on the show. It has failed to make much of a dent in the ratings - attracting an audience only about one-tenth as large as the most popular 11 p.m. newscast in Seattle.

Nevertheless, KIRO executives say they consider the 10 p.m. news a success.

"From a strategic standpoint, in terms of expanding KIRO's reach in the marketplace, it is meeting its objective," Jim Johnson said yesterday. A senior vice president of administration and finance at KIRO, Johnson will be involved in the AFTRA negotiations.

"We want to make sure the staffing is right . . . that our people have the tools to do the job," he said.

Hutchison and Justice both testified that the additional newscast siphoned off important preparation time.

"I don't believe I'm putting on as good a program at 11 o'clock on Channel 7 as I would be if (the 10 p.m. newscast) were not there," Justice told the judge. "I have no doubt of that."

As of the November ratings period, the most recent, KIRO's 11 p.m. news finished third among Seattle's three network-affiliate stations.

The anchors said it takes about two hours "to adequately prepare a live newscast," the judge wrote in his decision.

When the 10 p.m. newscast was rolled out, Hutchison did negotiate successfully for some extra wages to cover additional child-care costs. Since Hutchison gave birth to another child this fall, Justice has taken over as sole anchor on both the 10 and 11 p.m. newscasts.