Troy Kimmel, chief meteorologist for Austin’s Sinclair owned station, KEYE, told Austin360 he’s leaving the CBS affiliate because he disagrees with how the station group wants to cover the weather.

“They just have a different weather philosophy and want to go a different direction,” Kimmel said. “I’m not going to stand in their way. They were very cool about it all. I wish them good luck.”

Sinclair, which purchased KEYE last year, came under fire in November for a pre-election special aired on its Columbus, Dayton and West Palm Beach stations that some called a partisan attack on President Obama. However, Scott Livingston, Sinclair’s vice president of news, defended the special saying, “No doubt it was hard-hitting, but it was fair.”

Kimmel, who has worked at KEYE twice before (1998-1999 and 2000-2003) will sign off from KEYE on Friday December 28.

Scott Livingston, Sinclair Broadcasting’s vice president of news, is defending the company’s election special against criticism that it presented an anti-Obama agenda. The special — which aired on six stations in battleground states on Monday night — was  a “continuation of the engagement of the audience and the process of educating them about the topics,” Livingston tells TVNewsCheck:

“No doubt it was hard-hitting, but it was fair,” said VP of News Scott Livingston, who oversees the local news operations of 42 Sinclair stations. “No one is disputing the facts of the stories that aired in the special.”

Livingston said no partisan agenda was at play in producing the show — nor in choosing the markets in which it was played. Read more

Sinclair Broadcast Group announced this week that Scott Livingston, currently the news director of the company’s flagship station, WBFF in Baltimore, has been named vice president of news for the station group.

In his new role, Livingston, who has been WBFF’s news director for the past ten years, will lead the 41 Sinclair stations that air local news.

“We are pleased to promote Scott into this well-deserving position,” Sinclair president and CEO David Smith said, announcing the promotion.  “Scott has been charged with the ultimate goal of ensuring that each of our news operations is delivering high-quality, informative news stories that matter to our local audiences and make a difference in their respective markets.” Read more