Channel 4 is imploding on itself. CBS HQ has ordered an internal investigation of WFOR management, and the working atmosphere at the station, according to GossipExtra after hostile work environment accusations by employees. There are allegations that employees were told to work over time without pay.

CBS 4’s ratings have been in the gutter for a while, and stress levels in the newsroom are high. Recently the 11pm newscast producer quit right before air time because she was “fed up”. Then there’s the issue of pay, with on-air staff being told they have to take a pay cut, and some of them wondering whether they’ll even have a job come contract renewal time.

To make matters worse long timers have left the station. Shanno Hori, Jeff Berardelli, David Bernard. And then there’s Josh Benson’s strange firing. SFLTV thinks it’s because he was praising CBS arch rival Aereo, but the station denied the allegation and told us it was because he streamed CBS 4 newscasts without authorization. An odd reason, considering what Benson actually did was to embed the station’s publicly accessible video player on his own website.

Insiders have told me a few times that CBS management at HQ in New York City often doles out orders to local bosses about how they want things done, and overrides their decisions regularly, including hiring decisions and news story judgement. Unfortunately for them the Miami market is unique, and running it from out-of-town cookie-cutter style doesn’t produce great results. We have Spanish-language stations that are strong performers, and who attract sizable audiences. Whatever is left for English-language stations is dominated heavily by WSVN, which excels in the 25-54 demo for a while now. They’re also a stable, and predictable station that connects with viewers better the other outlets. And let’s not forget WTVJ, whose resurgence, deservedly so I would say, seems to have sucked viewers away not just from WFOR but also from WPLG.

Would WFOR recover?