In the FTVLive email which is sent out three times a week, on Thursday I wrote about how media companies focus more on leaks coming out of their newsrooms instead of fixing the problem.

I wanted to share what I wrote, so maybe some of the people who need to see this, will.

In newsrooms across the country, a familiar and destructive pattern plays out. When morale is low and working conditions are poor, stories of the internal turmoil inevitably find their way outside the station's walls. And what is management’s typical response? Not to address the core problems, but to launch a witch hunt for the "leaker."

This week, we saw a stark example of this misplaced focus at WISH-TV in Indianapolis, where a well-liked anchor was fired after just seven months. According to station insiders, management wrongly believed she was a source for FTVLive.

Let me be unequivocally clear: she was not.

But the specifics of this single case, while deeply concerning for the individual involved, point to a much larger, systemic rot within our industry. When management becomes more obsessed with who is talking to outsiders than with why their newsroom is a place people want to talk from, the battle is already lost.

Think of the wasted energy. The time spent in meetings trying to pinpoint a source, the effort spent crafting threatening internal memos, the cultivation of a paranoid "us vs. them" culture inside the building—it's all a profound misallocation of resources. That is energy that should be spent making the newsroom a functional, supportive, and dynamic place to work.

To every General Manager, News Director, and corporate suit reading this, here is a simple truth: People do not leak from happy newsrooms.

Journalists don't risk their careers to expose a workplace where they feel valued, respected, and equipped to do their jobs. The "leaks" you're so desperate to plug are not the problem; they are a symptom of the problem. They are the warning flares sent up from a newsroom culture that is broken.

The irony in Indianapolis is that after the station fired the person they thought was the leak, my inbox was flooded by other employees from that same station, telling me what happened. You can't plug a leak when the entire ship is rotting.

Instead of hunting for sources, try addressing the issues that create them. Focus on fair contracts, manageable workloads, and a chain of command that listens instead of threatens. Cultivate a newsroom where people are proud to work, not a place they are desperately looking to escape.

If you build a better workplace, the leaks will dry up on their own. Stop trying to find the one person talking, and start building a station where no one feels the need to.

BTW- if you are not signed up for the FTVLive Newsletter, you can do so below. The newsletter is 100% free and sponsored by OTA Talent.