CBS Executive Who Allegedly Disparaged Ukee Washington Gets Canned
(Disclaimer: I worked at Eyewitness News from 2009 to 2016)
Back in January, the LA Times ran a story that contained allegations of racism and sexism involving CBS Corporate, which was centered on Eyewitness News here in Philadelphia
In the story, it was reported that racist language was directed towards veteran anchor Ukee Washington, with President of Television Stations Peter Dunn accused of referring to Washington as “just a jive guy,” who did “jive talking.” There were allegations that he asked if an anchor candidate was “too gay for Philadelphia” (Jim Donovan), and there were more unflattering stories about decision making regarding other talent. Quoted on record were the former Eyewitness News general manager and news director.
Dunn and another executive, David Friend, were suspended and have now been shit canned:
Two top CBS local news station executives who have been accused of a disturbing pattern of racist and sexist behavior are no longer with the company.
“Peter Dunn, President of the CBS Television Stations, and David Friend, Senior Vice President of News for the Stations group, will not return to their positions and will be leaving the Company,” CBS said in a statement. “On an interim basis, Bryon Rubin will continue to run the Stations group while Kim Godwin will continue her oversight of Stations’ news operations until new leadership is in place.
This is positive news for the employees at Eyewitness News, because it’s a good shop with good people who worked under shitty conditions. The people in New York City would just meddle with local affairs incessantly. They influenced hirings and firings and were constantly looking over the shoulders of the various general managers and news directors who have run that operation over the years, which crippled their ability to do the job they were hired to do. It was a crappy work environment, with very low morale, and the professionals holding it together below management level really should be commended for keeping that thing afloat.
And just to reiterate, since people keep getting this wrong:
The allegations here are 100% attributed to CBS CORPORATE, not Eyewitness News. So when people say shit like, “I hope channel 3 cleans up their culture of racism and sexism,” that’s totally off-base. None of the wrongdoing was coming from people working for CBS 3. It was the suits above them who were (allegedly) the source of the problem.
There is no culture problem at CBS; the entire story was based on alleged behaviors at the corporate level.