News Flash: Trompeter Out at WCCO

One year after getting ripped to shreds over how it handled the dismissal of meteorologist Paul Douglas, CBS station WCCO swung the budget ax again, and this time news anchor Jeanette Trompeter was the recipient. She got the word minutes before she was scheduled to do the 5 p.m. news Monday.

Unlike what happened to Douglas, this time the station made sure its viewers knew about it. They ran a statement from its general manager Susan Adams Loyd praising Trompeter, which was followed by remaining anchors Frank Vascellaro, Don Shelby and Amelia Santaniello telling us how shocked they were.

Truth be told, WCCO can't be blamed for letting Trompeter go. Between anchoring the 5 p.m. news and doing lifestyle features, there wasn't that much for her to do. She was never going to be sitting next to Shelby or Vascellaro at 10 as long as Santaniello (the latter anchor's wife) was around.

Still, there was no reason for WCCO to suddenly take Trompeter out with the trash. We realize that the same scenario is happening at companies everywhere, but CBS isn't in danger (as far as we know) of turning into another AIG or General Motors. Give the woman some dignity, folks.

Douglas, after getting whacked by WCCO, has landed on his feet in starting up two weather-related companies. But that doesn't mean he's at all happy with the way the station treated him on his way out, as recent interviews with online media attest.

Trompeter will face a more difficult road, as she joins thousands of other print and broadcast journalists looking for work. Because newspapers are either going bankrupt, going online or shutting down. Because TV networks and stations believe they have to answer to their stockholders instead of their viewers. And because people like you and me are reading things like this on the Internet.