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| Blog: Kevin Roy's Displaced Anger |
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| Written by Larz | |||
| Friday, 17 September 2010 13:21 | |||
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Former WLS-TV weekend news anchor and reporter Kevin Roy lost his job at the end of April. He has not been able to find new television work since then. Kevin Roy is clearly upset that he has not yet found a new job. He is searching for reasons why and instead of blaming himself for his own problems and situation, he is blaming Google and the way Robert Feder worded a headline. Kevin Roy went on a bit of a tirade on his new blog, on via various social media outlets earlier this week. Robert Feder, being a bit confused by what appeared to be an attack on his work by someone he thought he had a decent relationship with, wrote about it on his online media column earlier today. Roy is angry because Rob Feder used the word "fires" and "fired" in his column about the dismissal. He is also angry because that column of Feder's comes up at the top of any Google search for "Kevin Roy." Technically and officially, Kevin Roy was not fired. The official WLS-TV stance is that Roy's contract, which was coming up for renewal, was not renewed. Contracts are not renewed all the time in the television world. It is not unusual for an anchor and a station to part ways in that manner. That is what Kevin Roy would like the world to believe when discussing his parting ways with WLS-TV. Buuuuut... The contract not being renewed is NOT the whole story. While it was true that ABC7 did not renew Roy's contract, they also effectively fired him. His contract still had weeks left on it, but after he failed to show up for work with no prior notice -- the third time he had made such a mistake -- Roy was told to not show up for work there any more. If you look it up in a dictionary, the word "fired" means "dismissed." ABC7 dismissed him the day after he failed to do his job. They fired him without officially doing so, thereby eliminating any fear of possible legal battles for wrongful termination. The CRM website worded it this way the week Roy exited: "WLS-TV has parted ways with their weekend news anchor and general assignment reporter Kevin Roy. Officially, Roy's contract was not renewed and that is the reason stated for his release. However, there was still time remaining on his current contract, but he has been told to no longer report to work there." The word "fired" was not used, but it easily could have been. It is all semantics. Roy is taking the meaning of the word "fired" to mean more than just a simple parting of the ways and feels that word is hurting his chances at finding new work. The truth is, a word by Robert Feder is NOT preventing Roy from finding new work. Kevin Roy is preventing Kevin Roy from finding work. The day he was told to no longer darken WLS-TV's doorway, he only barely acknowledged he had done anything wrong. He did a LOT wrong that day. He hurt his co-workers, he hurt his fans and he hurt his station by his actions & attitude that day. He ruined the birthday of Ben Bradley, a co-worker who had to drop his birthday plans to rush down to the studios to replace Roy at the last minute. He also ruined any chance of landing a new job anytime soon. The reason Robert Feder's blog comes up near the top of Google searches has to do with Feder's great popularity and respect, having many thousands of people read his work daily. It has to do with Kevin Roy's own popularity, which caused many people to read what Robert Feder had written about the abrupt absence of Roy from Chicago's airwaves. Robert Feder merely reported the facts. Google is merely an Internet software program that shows what is popular on the Internet. A factual article and an Internet search engine are not why Kevin Roy has not yet found new employment in his chosen field. For him to blame them and to not look in a mirror is foolish. While Kevin Roy did issue a kind of apology statement after the incident, he never really admitted to any problem other than "physical exhaustion." Kevin Roy needs to openly admit that he has a problem beyond being tired -- or that he had a problem, if it is now behind him. He needs to make sure that problem does not rear its ugly head ever again. He then needs to prove the problem is gone for good. All that will take time. Google can't help him. Rob Feder can't help him. On Kevin can help Kevin. Perhaps a blog about it on his own website would help. Then, by hiring a talented SEO professional, his own blogs could appear higher in Internet searches for "Kevin Roy" and he will not have to worry about the word "fired" being on Google's Page 1. In the meantime, there are hundreds of equally talented television personalities looking for work -- the great majority of which do not come with a fraction of Kevin Roy's now-public baggage. He has an uphill climb ahead of him. That is not to say it will be impossible for the man. Steve Bartelstein had his baggage attached to his reputation while a NY news anchor, and he recently landed the job as morning news anchor at WBBM-TV. It can be done. Blaming writers and faceless Internet search engines for one's problems is not the correct first step to recovery, though. In fact, publicly whining about it only hurts employment chances further. What also needs to be pointed out is that Kevin Roy is not a bad man or a bad newsman. In fact, he is an excellent television newsman, with the Emmy Awards and huge fanbase to prove it. There is -- or was -- something going on in his personal life that caused him to make a mistake -- repeatedly. As long as that problem is cleared up, Kevin Roy will make for a terrific addition to a news staff. I wish him luck. ----------------------------------------------- UPDATE: Perhaps feeling some heat from fans & the public in general, Kevin Roy has greatly changed his original blog. He has softened and removed much of the language that made it seem like an attack on Robert Feder. Today he wrote: "No one else is my scapegoat. Looking back at my original post, I am confused that the point I was trying to make seems to have been lost by what was perceived as a personal attack. I never meant to offend Mr. Feder. If I did, I am truly sorry that my choice of words gave anyone that impression. He's been nothing but nice and supportive of me." He clarified that his point all along was that it seems unfair that Google shows the word "fired" by his name, when he was never officially "fired" and that there is no way to alter Google's search. I hope his next blog is about how he needs to stop focusing on things he has no control over and how he plans on focusing his energies on the parts of his life he has full control over. 
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