The New York Times is highlighting the struggle of middle-aged news women.
Nashville based journalist Steve Cavendish wrote an op-ed on Monday about two anchors who worked for Meredith stations and say they were fired because of their age.
The hook was an advertising campaign, the #SeeHer initiative, a gender equity campaign led by the Association of National Advertisers. Meredith, which owns magazines and 15 local stations, jumped on board at the first media company to support the campaign. According to the article:
Meredith is also, as it happens, being sued for age discrimination.
In 2015, CBS affiliate KCTV in Kansas City, fired news anchor Karen Fuller, then 47, from the station and replaced her with a 32-year old. In Dec. 2017, NBC affiliate WSMV in Nashville let anchor Demetria Kalodimos, then 58, go, and replaced her with someone a decade younger. Both women subsequently filed suit.
TVSpy has covered both stories over the years. Meredith has continued to “categorically deny” the claims in the Kaladimos suit. In a statement to Cavendish, Meredith’s senior vice president of human resources, Dina Nathanson pointed to the company’s “outstanding track record regarding gender equity in the workplace”: 57 percent of its on-air talent and 52 percent of its anchors are women, she said, adding that the company has more women in off-air leadership roles than the industry average.”
You can read the whole op-ed here.