The conflict between longtime NY1 anchor Roma Torre and her employer continues.
Torre posted an open letter to New York Mayor (and Democratic presidential candidate) Bill de Blasio on Medium, calling for action regarding what she feels is retaliation and further discrimination by NY1 and its parent company Charter Communications.
Torre writes that her request to cover tomorrow’s celebration for the U.S. Women’s World Cup team. has been rejected. This comes despite the fact that she had covered the U.S. Women’s Soccer parade in 2015 (when the U.S. also won the Women’s World Cup) and has covered various other New York-based celebrations, including Yankees World Series ticker tape parades.
Torre writes:
In contrast to 2015, this year NY1 has excluded me from live coverage of the celebration. This year, only weeks after we filed our lawsuit, NY1 has informed me that I will not be involved in the live parade coverage despite my request to continue in this role. Why am I now being treated differently? Of course, this is retaliation and a further demonstration of NY1’s complete failure to take women’s issues seriously. NY1/Charter cannot on the one hand celebrate and promote U.S. women’s soccer, but on the other hand treat female employees in a manner that runs completely afoul of what the team and its players stand for and represent.
She closes by writing, “I would specifically ask that Mayor de Blasio condemn NY1’s actions in the strongest terms and continue to stand with us as we make change.”
In response to Torre’s letter, Charter has provided TVNewser with the following statement:
We are disheartened by this letter as Roma is fully aware of how we’re covering this story. The parade is starting at 9:30 am tomorrow, we’ve made no changes at all to our regular staffing in our studios. We will utilize our regular morning crew and contrary to what Roma said, she will go on air as usual at noon. The fact is that no NY1 anchors will be covering this from downtown.
This most recent letter comes less than a month after Torre and four of her female colleagues filed an age and gender discrimination lawsuit against the Charter-owned news network.
According to the lawsuit, the plaintiffs’ careers began a “demonstrable, precipitous decline” beginning in 2016, after Charter merged with Time Warner Cable.
Joining Torre in that lawsuit are fellow NY1 staffers Kristen Shaughnessy, Brooklyn reporter Jeanine Ramirez, anchor/reporter Vivian Lee and Staten Island reporter Amanda Farinacci.
In response to the women’s lawsuit, Charter put out the following statement in June: “We take these allegations seriously and as we complete our thorough review, we have not found any merit to them. NY1 is a respectful and fair workplace and we’re committed to providing a work environment in which all our employees are valued and empowered.”