To The Editor:
I was saddened and disappointed to read the overtly sexist and scurrilous remarks in Linda Moss' June 23 [article] titled, "McEnroe Colleagues Stunned."
All of us who have known and worked with Katie McEnroe have a lot of respect, love and compassion for her and we, along with many others, wish her only the best, both personally and professionally.
Ms. Moss's characterization of Katie and the other outstanding young women we hired at Rainbow in the 1980s as having been hired to "blunt criticism of racy Escapade" is both false and defamatory. All of the women cited were hired for the most fundamental of business reasons: Each was the best candidate for the job and possessed the best potential for professional growth, a judgment that has been validated by the senior executive positions each of them now holds.
Ms. Moss [also] quotes an unnamed source as saying, "They were all blonde and not bad looking. It was very early in the industry and they probably did stand out for being women on business on the road."
That Multichannel News
would see fit to publish such an incendiary comment about a group of women who comprise the best and brightest in our industry is shameful.
It would have been far more appropriate, and accurate, to describe the Rainbow affiliate sales team of the early- to mid-1980's as one of the best group of sales executives to ever work for one company at the same time.
In an industry that has worked so hard to promote and achieve diversity, Ms. Moss' article was a throwback to the 1950's and a reminder that maybe we have not made as much progress as we would like to think.
At the very least, we should expect more from MCN, our industry's leading trade publication and the organizer of the annual Wonder Women awards ceremony.
Que Spaulding, President, Distribution, Starz Encore Group LLC
