Starting Monday, non-news WPIX employees will be working from home three days a week. News employees are being encouraged to work remotely and not come to the office.
That’s according on an internal memo obtained by TVSpy.
The flagship Scripps-owned station says everyone has to do their part to be proactive against the coronavirus in New York City.
Here is a snippet from PIX11 general manager Bart Feder:
Beginning Monday we will ask non-editorial and non-engineering employees, basically all of you who are not in the news department or involved in the production of our broadcasts, to work from home 3 days per week. You’ll talk with your manager about your schedule and determine which days to come in. We will make sure everyone who’s being asked to work from home has the technology to do so and can maintain their normal productivity.
Beginning tomorrow we will ask field crews to dispatch straight from the garage or the location of their vehicle without coming to the 10th floor. In addition we will look for opportunities for reporters to drive directly to assignments to meet up with their photographer without having to come into the building.
Also effective immediately (or as soon as possible) we will suspend having guests enter our spaces on the 1st, 2nd or 10th floors. That includes business guests, show guests, friends, family and non-essential services. Any exceptions must be approved by a department head or me.
At the end of the note Feder reminded everyone that this is not “business as usual” and that journalists should not put themselves in a dangerous situation to get a soundbite or a story.
As far as TVSpy understands, there are no plans to outsource newscasts at this time.