Democracy Has Prevailed.

June 21, 2016

Wendy Bell Sues.

From The AP (so now it's a national story):
A newscaster fired after her comments in a Facebook post about a shooting were deemed racially insensitive sued her former employer on Monday, saying the television station let her go because she is white.

Wendy Bell said her federal lawsuit that Pittsburgh-based WTAE fired her on March 30 "because of her race," violating her civil rights.

"Had Ms. Bell written the same comments about white criminal suspects or had her race not have been white, Defendant would not have fired her, much less disciplined her," the lawsuit reads. "Ms. Bell's posting of concern for the African-American community stung by mass shooting was clearly and obviously not intended to be racially offensive."
Ah...so that settles it.

You can find the lawsuit here.

In the section section of the lawsuit, one that lays out all Bell's side of the argument.  She's praised by TAE for being such a good egg, having a great connection with her audience and so forth.

Then there's this:
8. Bell’s work and reputation in Defendant’s target audience area was so good that Defendant encouraged Ms. Bell to use social media to communicate with that target audience. Indeed, in Defendant’s last formal performance appraisal of Ms. Bell, Defendant noted she has “launched a Facebook page for her work at the station and “this has proven to be a great platform for her.” According to Defendant, Ms. Bell “is very good about engaging her audience [on that Facebook page]”
And:
11. As part of her duties as a reporter and anchor, Defendant encouraged Ms. Bell to communicate over social media about the stories she covered.
And the rest, as they say, is history.

The basis of the lawsuit, as far as I (a notorious non-lawyer) can tell is found in these three paragraphs:
21. Defendant consistently downplays misconduct by similarly situated reporters and anchors because of their race or gender.

22. For example, Defendant’s African American Sports Director, and 5 p.m. news anchor, Andrew Stockey was not disciplined at all for making lewd comments to interns, conduct that resulted in the termination of Defendant’s internship program in its news department.

23. Another reporter, Guy Junker, was arrested for propositioning an undercover police officer, an arrest that caused significant undue publicity, and was “inconsistent with [Defendant’s] ethics.” Defendant did not even discipline Junker, much less fire him.
Basically, it's a "they did bad stuff and they weren't fired!" argument

For the record Junker was arrested in 1998.  Ands there's no supporting evidence other than Bell's assertion in her lawsuit against TAE about Stockey's "lewd comments" I'll leave it up to you to decide whether they can be trusted.

BTW, here's Bell working with Andrew Stockey.  This was about 6 years ago, by the way:


She offered up an apology then:
“The other night, I made an off-the-cuff comment to my co-anchor, Andrew Stockey, after one of our news stories,” she said in a statement. “The words I said didn’t come out the right way, and as such, offended some of you, which leaves me deeply troubled. I would never want to offend ANYONE, as my words clearly did. I hope you will accept my sincere apology.”
Yea this is going to be interesting.

4 comments:

labman57 said...

Racism expresses itself in a variety of ways.

Some knuckle-walkers are blatant and unabashed racists, as has been observed on numerous occasions throughout American history … such as when grumpy old white guys wax nostalgic for the days of yesteryear …. before the Civil War.

Other folks indignantly proclaim that "some of my best friends are (fill in the blank)." One may behave in an extremely civil manner -- or even be friendly -- toward someone of a different ethnicity ... so long as that person does not offend one's sensibilities or disagree with one's political ideology.

And for others, their racism is expressed by their tendency to apply stereotypical character traits to an entire ethnic demographic group of people, followed by a haughty disdain for these character traits and by their arrogant, condescending suggestion that they -- as an outsider to the culture -- understand the challenges facing people of said demographic group better than members of the group themselves.

Social Justice NPC Anti-Paladin™ said...

I thought she was rehired when I saw her on the Channel 4 News.
Basically, it's a "they did bad stuff and they weren't fired!" argument
Police unions use that all the time when cops are caught in misconduct or perjury.

Zeus0209 said...

She could next wow us with her analytical prowess on the Orlando shooter. I'll bet Wendy needn't be a criminal profiler to know how that guy grew up too.

But then I'll bet she saw a set of eyes behind a burqa working the candy counter at the movies last weekend and thought "good for her! There's still hope in the world!"

Wendy, if you're reading, STFD and STFU. Instrospection....look it up

Anonymous said...

The argument is more "other employees did bad stuff and weren't fired, so the employer really isn't concerned with that. They are just using it as a pretext for their discriminatory behavior."