If you have sudden, shocking, bad news to deliver that's almost always a sign that there wasn't much openness previously. That's already a management failure that's unacknowledged in this piece.

Flip the scenario. What would it mean if suddenly an employee had absolutely terrible status that they were _finally_ forced to share. As a manager, wouldn't you wonder why it wasn't disclosed earlier? Why the employee was probably lying to your face for some time?