Former WPIX New York news director Karen Scott has leveled a $4.5 million age discrimination lawsuit against the station, reports the NY Daily News. Scott left the station in August. She says she–and several anchors, including Kaity Tong and Sal Marchiano–were let go due to their age.
Kaity Tong
The story says former president/general manager Betty Ellen Berlamino “set the ageist tone” at the Tribune station. Berlamino was let go just last week. Tribune Broadcasting President Jerry Kersting did not elaborate on the reasons at the time, simply saying “it was time to make a change.” He’s running the station now.
WPIX has struggled to get out of fifth place in the ratings race for years.
The News reports:
Karen Scott, who was fired last August from the Tribune-owned Channel 11, says she was let go because of her age, 60 - and not sagging news ratings as she was told. She maintains her firing was consistent with the way the station handled other senior staffers by either firing them, or reducing their roles.
WPIX did not comment at presstime.
Michael Malone, senior content producer at B+C/Multichannel News, covers network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television. He hosts the podcasts Busted Pilot, about what’s new in television, and Series Business, a chat with the creator of a new program, and writes the column “The Watchman.” He joined B+C in 2005. His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Playboy and New York magazine.
