WTMJ-TV News Director Bill Berra calls his departing anchor a Milwaukee icon. “Mike Gousha is probably the best anchor in the country,” Berra gushes. “He could come back tomorrow and be our anchor for as long as he wants.”
So why, then, did Gousha resign from the station that has become synonymous with his name? His last day will be August 25, and Gousha resigned without having secured another job. Some insiders say he was pushed out by Berra.
That’s a shock for TMJ4, long the standard bearer for journalistic integrity, but the station has been shaken by slumping ratings. For three consecutive “sweeps week” rating periods – beginning in May 2005 – WTMJ news lost to WISN for the 5, 5:30 and 6 p.m. newscasts. Meanwhile, its lead for the 10 p.m. newscast is shrinking.
Berra, who became station manager in January 2005, was given free rein to slash spending, dump salaries and transform TMJ. “Berra is known for promoting scrappy young go-getters and getting rid of the big names that don’t pull their weight,” says St. Petersburg Times media critic Eric Deggans, who covered Berra when the latter ran WFTS in Tampa, Florida.
Berra fired reporter Tami Kou last year and this year axed meteorologist Jim Ott and medical reporter Kimberly Kane.
But more so than firing big-name talent, Berra and his assistant, Shawn Briggs, have a track record of discomfiting and demoting employees until they decide to leave. TMJ staffers say morning anchor Vivian King was offered a new contract with a lower salary, and King quit to become public affairs director at Roundy’s Inc. Berra also bumped popular longtime sports anchor Kevin Hunt from the 10 p.m. newscast, prompting him to look for another job.
“Was I pushed out?” Hunt asks rhetorically. “Well, I was demoted, so the writing was definitely on the wall. I mean, I have my pride. My contract was still being negotiated, but I found a great opportunity in Phoenix.”
Kane had parlayed a network of healthcare sources to produce intriguing analyses of medical stories and trends. But Berra pushed hard for more sex, and Kane pushed back. “Everyone was shocked by how many sex stories he had planned,” says Kane.
The mother of three went from covering skyrocketing health insurance costs to sex toy parties. “I felt like the healthcare bunny,” she says.
Kane says Berra demanded that the health stories fall into one of three eyebrow-raising categories: “selfish health” (Botox, liposuction, et cetera), “voyeuristic health” (Tune in at 10 to see if this child has cancer) and “pissing matches” (face-offs between healthcare entities). When Kane balked, Berra fired her. (Berra concedes he wanted more “selfish” health stories but denies pushing for the other two categories.)
Gousha didn’t respond to interview requests. But the loss of key talent like Hunt, with whom Gousha had worked for years, must have bothered him. And when the 25-year news veteran questioned the sexed-up direction of TMJ newscasts, his insights weren’t welcomed.
“It was gut-wrenching for Mike,” says a current staffer. “He wanted to contribute the way he had in the past, but he was gradually removed from major news decisions. Even if Bill acted like he valued Mike’s advice, he never followed through on that advice.”
Their relationship had so deteriorated that Gousha refused to negotiate his recent contract with Berra and instead went straight to Vice President and CEO of Broadcasting Doug Kiel, say TMJ4 insiders. Gousha’s dissatisfaction is also evinced by the fact that he opted for a one-year contract rather than a multi-year deal. There was even talk he could get axed.
“Shawn Briggs absolutely wants to fire Mike Gousha,” said a source close to Berra a few days prior to Gousha’s resignation an-nouncement. “Mike is not resonating with the right demographic anymore. Everyone was shocked when they started losing the ratings to Channel 12.”
WISN has moved away from focusing on one news anchor to a team approach, which TMJ is aping. The younger, edgier sports tan-dem of Lance Allan and Rod Burks is definitely a departure from Hunt’s family-friendly antics. When Milwaukee Bucks rookie Andrew Bogut recently complained about NBA scouts digging into his private life, the urbane Burks asked, “Did that piss you off a little bit?”
As for news, boyish reporter John Mercure has done some very un-Gousha, over-the-top sex stories, including a recent “investigative” report on where junior high girls purchase vibrators.
Media analysts have noticed TMJ’s titillating transformation. “That station just wants pretty faces and plenty of sex stories,” says Gary Schwitzer, University of Minnesota journalism professor and former TMJ4 reporter.
All of which makes Gousha’s sudden exit understandable. As Berra and Briggs spiced up the news and ended Gousha’s influence, they had to know he wouldn’t stick around. Berra denies this with the same sensationalist flare that has come to define his newscasts: “Accusing me of wanting Mike Gousha out is like accusing me of beating my wife.”
Not the most apt analogy, perhaps, but one ripe with scintillating scandal.
