BREAKING! More Racism Allegations Against Tegna Executives
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The largest shareholder of Tegna has filed and SEC report that again, lays some racism allegations against Tegna executives.
Standard General filed a report that brings to light some new issues that reportedly happened at Tegna, dealing with race.
This comes straight from the SEC filing by Standard General about actions about Tegna executives:
The Letter describes a broad pattern of bias and racially-insensitive behavior, including the following allegations:
•An event in which the TEGNA Vice President, who now helms the Company’s employee recruiting efforts, wore black face at a Company event dressed as Michael Jackson. Far from being reprimanded, that employee apparently won an award for wearing the best costume and was subsequently promoted to her current executive role.
•The termination of a Latina reporter eleven months after she suffered a stroke because she was no longer up to “9News standards.”
•Termination and non-renewal of prominent Latinx reporters working at TEGNA’s Denver station primarily due to their coverage of immigration issues, including requiring Latinx employees to disclose their own immigration status when broadcasting about such issues.
•An incident in which a corporate marketing executive explained using purple graphics, which “African American audiences might enjoy,” referring to “You know, like the Color Purple (a novel and a movie),” and introduced new theme music as the “sound of the street,” to which she “stomped her hands and feet.”
•A practice of instructing Asian reporters “how to apply makeup so her eyes will look more ‘Western’” and Black or Latin on-air employees being “hammered for your dialect.”
In the filing, Standard General writes that they “previously has raised serious concerns regarding the racially insensitive incident involving Adonis Hoffman and CEO Dave Lougee, and the Board’s failure to conduct a thorough and independent investigation into that matter.”
They add, “Standard General previously expressed its concern about possible biases present in upper management. At a minimum, the allegations in the Letter and the media reports strongly call into question whether the Board and senior management have complied with their fiduciary duties to oversee the Company’s compliance with federal anti-discrimination laws and are exposing the Company to significant liability, damage and reputational harm..
As more allegations come up in regards to Tenga’s issues with people of color, it is clear that at the very least an outside investigation should be conducted.
After looking at CBS cutting ties with O&O President Peter Dunn and VP of News David Friend over the same type of issues, one news executive said to FTVLive, “Justice rides a slow horse. But at some point, it arrives.....I think that horse has left the barn and is galloping over to McLean VA and Dave Lougee’s office.”
