The union local representing
photographers and technical workers at Washington D.C.’s WJLA-TV is in a snit
over global positioning systems recently installed in the station’s company
cars used by news crews.
A story in the Washington Times
reports that station managers “stress the equipment is used to dispatch crews
quickly to breaking news, not to spy on them when they are on the road.” But
the new equipment has resulted in some disciplinary actions, and staffers are
crying foul over the invasion of their privacy.
“It’s like the classic local TV
news story,” said Stephen Keating, executive director of the Privacy
Foundation, a Colorado group that studies workplace privacy. Keating said it is
“ironic” that local television journalists, known for their “gotcha” stories
about other workers goofing off are now complaining about GPS.
According to the Times article,
WJLA President and General Manager Christopher W. Pike, refused to comment on
whether employees have been disciplined because of the GPS system. But
“sources” in the newsroom said at least two staffers have been disciplined for
using a company car for personal use or for speeding in a company car.
“We all understand we can’t take
the company car to go to Ocean City for the weekend. But is it OK to pick up
milk or pizza on the way home? All of these things were never questioned before
we got the GPS system,” one photographer said.
“It’s a very uneasy feeling as
you leave the building every day knowing that your boss knows where you are at
all times, said a WJLA photographer, who, the Times said, spoke on the
condition of anonymity.
He shouldn’t expect the law to
help him. Keating says, “In terms of monitoring employee productivity on the
job for the most part the legal precedents are on the side of the employer.”
“We have a staff that is 50
percent larger than our biggest competitor. We want to make maximum use of it,”
Pike said. He said the system allows the station to dispatch the nearest news
crew to breaking news, and eventually the station wants to use on-air maps that
will show viewers the location of the news scene.
“It’s a tremendous
news-gathering tool,” Pike said.
