Is a Nexstar Station Playing The System? (Patreon)

Right now the DC area is on lockdown and people are told not to leave their homes due to the coronavirus pandemic. 

Only people in "essential" jobs and those going to a store or other approved business are to travel outside their homes. 

Sources inside Nexstar's WDCW (Washington, DC) tell FTVLive that a number of employees at the station are still being told they should report to work. 

WDCW does not have a news department and many of the people in sales are still coming into work. A source says that WDCW General Manager Andrew Wyatt is, "is worried about the "optics" of sales managers and assistants not coming to the office."

Word is that the station has even made up badges for some employees that say "Nexstar News" despite the fact the station does not have a news department. 

Newspeople and Journalists are considered "essential" employees and can move around the DC area freely.  

One source provided us with a copy of some of the "fake" credentials that the station is using:

Wyatt also is asking employees while they are shopping for their family if they could pick up a few items for the station?

If you buy 4 jars of hand sanitizer and give 3 of them to the station, Wyatt says that you can expense all 4 jars and keep 1. 

Here is the internal email he sent the staff about them buying supplies for the station. Sorry, it's a picture, so you might have to pinch and zoom. 

Buying station products is all well and good (if you can find any of that stuff on the shelves) but using badges which mislabels the jobs of employees is not cool.  

The stay home orders are there for a reason and to help stop the spread. 

I'm fairly certain that a TV salesperson can do their job from home. And, let's be honest, almost no one is buying ads right now anyway. 

A few employees from WDCW have reached out to FTVLive and feel that the station is putting theirs and others' health in danger. 

Right now, it should be about your employees' wellbeing and not the bottom line of some balance sheet.