You know the drill: another week, another tweet about a well-known 9NEWS face saying goodbye. If you’re a Colorado local or just someone who likes their media gossip with a side of business case study, it’s hard to ignore the roster of journalists and anchors walking out the door. And, sure, newsroom turnover happens — but lately the pace has raised real eyebrows. Let’s break down why the exits are piling up (and what might actually turn things around).
Hostile Work Environment: Where’s the Support?
It started as a trickle — a few cryptic social posts, a resignation here and there. But soon, past and present staff began speaking out, and here’s the gut punch: a number of them call 9NEWS a *hostile* workplace, especially if you’re a young woman just starting out.
Several former employees paint a picture of a newsroom that mistakes “tough love” for tough luck. Think managers who play favorites, or worse, treat ambitious up-and-comers like a threat — even if they’re doing everything right, per numerous former staffers. Some describe feeling “disposable,” ignored when things got rough, and left with a sense that their careers — and at times, mental health — took a serious hit.
This isn’t some one-off employee grumbling either. Multiple testimonies over the last two years, particularly on professional networks and in off-the-record chats, echo the same themes: a lack of mentorship, emotional burnout, and a culture that sometimes feels more “Survivor” than supportive newsroom. Bottom line? If you’re constantly looking over your shoulder, it’s tough to stick around for the long haul.
The Women’s Departure Dilemma
Zoom in on the numbers and there’s a clear trend: Young women journalists, specifically, report getting less support and more pushback when they speak up. Sounds bad—and it is. Several have described the lasting damage professionally and personally, from feeling iced out on key stories to a sense of being passed over for growth or management roles, even when they’re objectively ready for prime time.
One young ex-reporter told The Denver Post, “You learn quickly that if you aren’t in the right social circle, you’re invisible.” It stings—and it’s become an open secret among newsroom insiders.
If management’s response is “that’s the industry,” well… maybe it shouldn’t be.
Career and Personal Motivations: It’s Not Just Office Drama
Of course, a crummy culture isn’t the only reason people hit “send” on that resignation email. Let’s talk real life—families, personal growth, and bluntly, the career doldrums.
Take Becky Ditchfield, 9NEWS’s longtime weathercaster and a pillar of its on-air talent. Her goodbye wasn’t blast-the-boss drama. Instead, she pointed to the classic working-parent crunch: wanting to be home more, reevaluating what mattered post-pandemic, and feeling “stuck” in a position where the weather might change, but her professional ceiling didn’t.
Was she forced out? According to Ditchfield, 9NEWS actually tried to keep her. But like many mid-career professionals, Becky chose agency over inertia — a move plenty of business readers can relate to.
This isn’t rare, either. Industry studies say over 45% of local news staff change jobs due at least partly to career plateau or lack of meaningful new challenges. The desire for expansion isn’t some millennial quirk — it’s workplace Darwinism at play.
Life Happens — And Newsrooms (Sometimes) Don’t Help
Family priorities—kids, aging parents, partners in new cities—aren’t unique to journalism. But the kicker is how newsrooms react. If bosses make flexible schedules feel like special favors, not normal life, employees leave. If they act like parenthood makes someone less “hungry,” expect even more LinkedIn goodbyes.
No surprise: local TV can be stubborn about old-school expectations. Early mornings, split shifts, holidays. For ambitious journalists with actual lives, those tradeoffs pile up…and don’t get easier with time.
Competition From Rival Stations: When Denver7 Calls
So staff are frustrated, but why are so many heading to *specific* competitors — namely Denver7? Because the rivals are savvy and watching. In just the past 12 months, at least three on-air pros have been recruited across town (and yes, offered bigger titles and more creative control).
Call it “poaching” or “career progress,” but the net effect is the same. Denver media isn’t a big pond, and recruiters know discontent at one shop is an opportunity at another. Journalists who felt boxed in at 9NEWS are suddenly morning show staples elsewhere.
It’s not just about pay, either. Talk to those who made the jump, and you’ll hear about promises of autonomy, visible career paths, and a break from the old guard’s “earn your stripes for a decade” mindset. In plain speak: move fast, get recognized, maybe skip some politics.
If 9NEWS isn’t matching those offers—or at least countering with culture changes—expect the revolving door to keep spinning.
Leadership Turbulence and Industry Headwinds: The Big Picture
Meanwhile, there’s another subplot: fresh faces in the corner offices. Leadership at 9NEWS has turned over more than once in the past couple of years. New bosses tout big visions, but when the actual newsroom feels whiplash and policy-over-policy, confidence erodes.
Add inevitable industry woes: cord-cutting, shrinking ad dollars, younger viewers skipping local TV entirely. Journalists aren’t blind—they read the Nielsen charts too. If there’s little faith in long-term newsroom stability, star talent starts updating their resumes.
Media hiring, post-pandemic, is in flux everywhere. Nationally, newsrooms have shed nearly 15% of positions since 2020, according to Pew Research Center. If your shop is both losing people and not winning the ratings war, the risk of a brain drain grows even faster.
Recurring Themes: Why Turnover’s Now a Big Story
Stack up all these threads—workplace culture problems, disrupted career growth, family stressors, and juicy competitor offers—and you see the playbook. No one’s leaving for a single reason. Instead, it’s death by a thousand paper cuts, as former staffers describe it: “Tough days were expected. It’s when it felt *pointless* that people started checking out.”
Three patterns keep surfacing:
- Unaddressed culture issues (especially for women)
- Mid-career stall outs — not just pay, but actual role expansion
- External poaching when the internal path is too foggy or bureaucratic
Can 9NEWS fix it all with a memo and a morning bagel bar? That’d be nice. But these are systemic, not surface-level, problems. Fixing them requires not just talk, but actual leadership buy-in.
If you want to go deep on workplace retention, it’s worth checking this breakdown from ConnectiveMag — a smart source for dissecting business culture shifts and their real impact.
What Happens Next for 9NEWS?
Here’s the good news for any bosses reading with coffee-induced panic sweats: newsroom churn isn’t automatically fatal. But if the issues go ignored, even the best weather maps won’t keep viewers — or staff — tuned in.
First: the culture problem. If young journalists, women especially, continue to report feeling unwelcome or overlooked, the leaks just get bigger. Quiet efforts, like fresh mentorship or actual “open door” policies, work better than any corporate-speak memo.
Second: clear career ladders. Stop assuming everyone wants to be a lifer, but show that growth *inside* the shop beats the grass on the other side — especially if rival stations are promising movement and meaning.
Third: treat “outside life” as normal, not a burden. Hybrid schedules, realistic expectations, and the occasional “take care of your kid” pass beat another round of going-away cake.
Finally, accept that in media, change is relentless. But if you can patch the holes before your stars become someone else’s, you don’t just survive; you actually build loyalty.
Bottom Line?
9NEWS is far from the only TV shop with an exit sign problem. But in the fight to keep talent, the rules are clearer than management might think. Respect people, support both their careers and their families, and don’t assume pedigree trumps potential. If not? Expect to see more familiar faces popping up across town — and maybe rival stations getting the last laugh on air.
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