EURweb |
FIRED CBS NEWS PRODUCER ALLEGES RACISM: Raylena Fields says ‘Evening News’ anchor Schieffer wanted her answering phones.
*Would Katie Couric expect a veteran CBS News producer to answer her phones?
According to Raylena Fields, a former African American producer in the network’s transitioning news division, current CBS Evening News anchor Bob Schieffer made the request of her, and she claims it was “something a similarly situated [white] staff producer would have never been asked to do."
On those grounds, reports Journailsms' Richard Prince, Fields filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission charging that she was summarily fired in retaliation for voicing her complaints about racial bias within the news department, and in particular about the behavior of Schieffer towards her.
Fields also charged 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."
CBS is denying the allegations, saying that Fields "was terminated for completely lawful reasons connected to a reshaping of the CBS Evening News under new leadership."
Schieffer, an interim anchor since Dan Rather left the chair in March 2005, will be replaced by Couric of NBC’s “Today Show” in the fall.
Share and Bookmark |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
