Hello again! Recovering from an emotional week, as I attended the funeral of a close relative, and a friend and fellow colleague in the news business. Two funerals in one week has been taxing, to say the least. Both men, my Uncle Martin Joseph Brown, and Dennis Duggan, I talked about in the last Blog of recent days. But, as both men would tell us all, life goes on...... and so it does.

Below is a story about a discrimination case lodged against CBS News here in New York that caught my eye. It was sent by a close friend who happens to work in the News Division at another local televison station here. She will remain un-named, but this under-reported story has legs for many reasons. Fact is, there is a dearth of so-called minority representation in both local and national news organizations here in America. This is seen up-close, especially, in America's media capital. The number of hires, and currently employed personel of color, at local magazines, radio and television stations, even at Internet firms, is appalling. Last hired, first fired.

In January of this year the New York Observer newspaper, a highly respected weekly broadsheet, ran a story about the lack of minority representation at locally based but, national magazines. In scores of interviews of editors, reporters, fact checkers, researchers, and support staff at a dozen-odd magazines, the article described a shocking trend of fewer Black, latino, and Asian presence in key editorial positions. It was also the same at the reportorial levels. Those in charge of hiring at said magazines, had the usual response that, in fact, they were doing all they could to bring in a more diversified staff. Baloney! Those lucky enough to be working 'in the business,' or in the know, know better. Numbers are down, and there are nubers and surveys that support that perception. No joke.

I wrote a letter to the editor that said what is true for publishing, is also true for the broadcasting side, at least here in New York. Having worked in New York since the mid-1980's I have seen this with my own eyes. Here you have a city that is nearly seventy per cent non-white yet, the number of those actually working in the news media is no where near the per centage of non-whites in the city. One glaring example is: No Blacks or Latinos, male or female, on-the-street at any of the All-News radio stations in New York. My letter to the Observer was not published. At the same time, the response to the article in the Letters-to-the-Editor section over subsequent weeks was substantial. The letters just keep on coming. They bore out what a lot of folks in 'News Biz' already know, and that is, there is a substantial lack of diversity in the newsroom.

I remember a piece in the the televison section of Newsday some years ago that was written by Marvin Kitman on this same lack of diveristy. In it, Kitman wrote that in REAL NUMBERS over the course of the last 30 years in New York televison news rooms, ( given the expansion of several newsrooms in the city on the televsion side in recent years) that the number of black reporters, especially, were down. He said, rather tongue in cheek, that it is the case of "THE BLONDE LEADING THE BLONDE."

Earlier this April, the Reverend Al Sharpton held a town hall-like meeting addressing the subject at one of his National Action Network forums. Brian Williams of NBC-TV's Nightly News, and Naya Arinde, of the New York Amsterdam News, were among a panel that discussed the matter. It was even broadcast nationally on C-Span, the public forum cable network seen in the United States.

Since that forum, we now have this headline..............................

Bias Complaint at CBS News

April 10, 2006; updated April 11, 2006


Fired Producer Portrays Bob Schieffer as Bigoted

An African American producer who had been at CBS News for 13 years is attributing her March termination to racial discrimination, noting that "not one of CBS News' eight broadcasts is in any way directed, influenced, or shaped by an African American or any minority holding a senior position on that broadcast.

"There is not one single African American person holding a rank above producer on any of CBS' eight separate broadcasts," states a complaint to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed by Raylena
Fields, 52, who said she earned $185,000 a year.

"In the last eighteen (18) months, at least five African American women were, in one way or another, forced out of their jobs at CBS News," said Fields.

"Only one African American male has been promoted to a producer position at CBS News in the last decade."

Her complaint, which her lawyer told Journal-isms was filed March 30 at the EEOC offices in New York, paints an unflattering picture of "CBS Evening News" anchor Bob Schieffer, who has won praise from critics and viewers for his avuncular, folksy style since taking over from Dan Rather 13 months ago.

"My termination is also retaliatory," the complaint reads. "It came almost one month to the day, after I filed a complaint that CBS Evening News anchorman Bob Schieffer asked me to answer his phones, something a
veteran similarly situated Staff Producer, would have never been asked to do. When I responded that I would find someone to help him, Mr. Schieffer raised his voice at me in front of his guests and said, 'Well, if you can't be bothered!' I chose not to be intimidated and ran down to the newsroom and found an entry level person to handle Mr. Schieffer's phones until his secretary got in.

"Bob Schieffer has a reputation for bigotry," the complaint continues. "Mr. Schieffer frequently and publicly refers to a newsroom assistant as 'Brownie' due to the complexion of his skin.

"I personally witnessed Bob Schieffer address a veteran African American correspondent as 'Hey, Boy. '"I wrote an official complaint about Bob Schieffer's actions toward me to Linda Mason, Vice President, CBS News, and Rome Hartman, Executive Producer, CBS Evening News. Neither responded. Less than a month after the Schieffer incident, Mason and Hartman called me into a meeting and terminated me."

[/Added April 11:/

CBS spokeswoman Sandra M. Genelius issued this statement Tuesday morning: "We strongly deny these allegations. Ms. Fields' employment was terminated for completely lawful reasons connected to a reshaping
of the CBS EVENING NEWS under new leadership."]

The complaint comes just as CBS is winning kudos for appointing Katie Couric as the first woman to anchor a prime-time newscast solo during the week, and a week after it named Russ Mitchell, who is African American, as its Sunday evening news anchor.

In expanding on her claim that her firing was partly in retaliation for complaining about racial matters, Fields wrote, "in January 2006, I complained that I was troubled by the reporting and tone of a story done by Washington correspondent, Gloria Borger regarding the questioning of Judge Sam Alito," who was successfully nominated for the Supreme Court. "I stated that the tenor of Ms. Borger's piece was that Democrats questioning Sam Alito on issues of race and gender, and possible bigoted behavior, 'crossed the line' because it made his wife cry. Somehow the wife crying trumped this critical line of questioning.

"In February 2006, I prepared a story relating to a black death row inmate in Louisiana, who was exonerated due to the intervention of a group of attorneys from England and Australia. "I was told by Senior Producer Reid Collins that talking about race in the story was 'veering off point.' I argued that 72% of all the people incarcerated in Louisiana are black and that you can't discuss the American criminal
justice system without discussing race. Mr. [Collins] declared that our viewers were not going to like my story."Without my knowledge, Reid Collins telephoned one of the characters in my story, questioning my
reporting. This was an unprecedented departure from standard policy.

Similarly situated veteran Staff Producers are not subjected to the same treatment."

Spencer H. Lewis Jr., director of the New York District office of the EEOC, said commission rules prevent him from confirming or denying that a complaint was filed. A copy was provided by Fields' lawyer, Gregory R. Preston. Lewis said the commission typically asks the accused to respond with a statement and any supporting evidence, and presents the option of resolving the dispute by mediation. If that option is rejected, a commission investigation lasting perhaps 10 months takes place.

In 2000, the commission announced it had settled a major sex discrimination lawsuit against CBS Broadcasting, Inc., for $8 million in financial compensation for approximately 200 female workers. "The suit charged CBS with subjecting a class of female technicians to a pattern and practice of discrimination in regard to salary, over time, promotions, and training; creating a hostile work environment that included sexual harassment; and retaliating against female employees for complaining about the discrimination," it announced in a news release .

Fields joined CBS after having been at ABC, where she had been acting senior broadcast producer for "Good Morning America's" news segments and director of talent recruitment and development at ABC News.

At CBS' "60 Minutes 2," she said, she was "the only black producer on staff, and the only producer that the show frequently required to work without an associate producer." One CBS producer, who joined the "CBS Evening News" in January, accused her of low production on both shows, Fields said. She argued that "terminating me for purportedly not doing as many stories as other Staff Producers, while ignoring the fact that I produced many more investigative and enterprised stories than my peers, is evidence of a pattern and practice of disparate treatment of me and of the disparate impact that CBS' policies have on African Americans.

"Twice, on stories relating to Osama Bin Laden's family, and following the trail of the 9-ll hijackers, my investigative work resulted in major 'scoops' which excited senior staff. Each time, however, my bosses insisted that those 'scoops' be turned over to other producers who were white."

The complaint also alleges that terminating her contract violates the Americans With Disabilities Act and the Family and Medical Leave Act.

"The enormous stress due to discriminatory treatment I received at Sixty Minutes Two, brought on a condition diagnosed as Cervical Ridiculitis. I had to take several weeks of full medical leave and undergo physical therapy over a two-year span.

"At times, I came to work at the Evening News while taking prescribed narcotic painkillers, wearing a neck brace, and using heating pads to cope with the pain," the complaint said.

Bryan Monroe, president of the National Association of Black Journalists, said tonight, "We are deeply troubled by the assertions in this CBS complaint. NABJ is in contact with Ms. Fields and [we] are looking into the allegations."

Okay, there you have it. I don't know what it is like working inside of CBS News. I do know what I see. What are your thoughts? I would be interested in hearing your view on this state of affairs.