In September 2023, the
South Side Weekly published an article reporting issues that had arisen under the leadership of the new executive director, Darrious Hilmon. The concerns current and former staff raised in the article included the station's poor use of funds, an anti-union workplace culture, and the prioritization of signature program production at the expense of employee's main job responsibilities. Community producers interviewed for the piece reported that the station shrank the resources it offered by cutting the amount of studio slots available for reservation, barring the public from using the props/prop room, and eradicating controversial community produced shows from its social media. CAN TV declined to provide a response for the article. Allegations of anti-union practices continued in an article posted by the
Chicago Reader. An incident where Raza Siddiqui, the then-president of the union which represents CAN TV workers, NABET-CWA Local 41, came to the television station to film a show instead of work was detailed in the article. Furthermore, an employee of the station described being unable to contact the union office about employee concerns. Siddiqui responded in a follow-up piece, writing, "Working with management is never a conflict of interest when it serves our members and when our goals are aligned such as with worker safety." While CAN TV's debut in
Crain's was positive, with a journalist praising the station's programming and executive director, subsequent articles were critical of the organization's direction. An article covering a
Better Business Bureau complaint filed against the station by a long-term producer and board member was released almost a year after the first article. The article also covered updates on an ongoing lawsuit against the station from a former employee and community producers' ongoing concerns. CAN TV responded to Crain's with a letter, stating they, "[serve] in good faith and with due care to ensure that the organization operates in compliance with applicable law and best practices and is accountable to the communities it serves." Another article from Crain's covered a board meeting at the station in which community producers, former employees, and former board members voiced concerns about the executive director's behavior. Ex-staff alleged they were fired because of conflict with the executive director and not for budgetary reasons, as the executive director had claimed. Hilmon, in response, said the comments were, "emblematic of an ongoing, coordinated effort to undermine [his] leadership and cause reputational harm to an important community asset." But allegations of unprofessional behavior were echoed in statements from members of the community and previous CAN TV board members, citing incidents where Hilmon fired entire departments at the station and pushed for board members to leave in response to criticism. ==References==