Tears On the Witness Stand
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ERIN KIERNAN
Three days ago, FTVLive told you that Former Anchor Sonya Heitshusen is suing Nexstar WHO (Des Moines) for wrongful termination.
At the civil trial, FTVLive told you that current WHO Anchor Erin Kiernan was set to testify in the case.
Kiernan took the stand, and despite working for the station, she testified about what she encountered. "Several years ago, there were promos running for some of my male colleagues’ awards, and in the same timeframe and even the same organization that bestows these awards, I had won awards, Sonya had won awards, and there were no promos running for what we had earned," Kiernan said.
Kierman described Heitshusen as one of the smartest, hardest-working people in the newsroom, but testified that the two of them consistently got fewer resources, in terms of staff support and runtime, for their stories than male colleagues received.
Heitshusen recalled when she was demoted, saying that WHO News Director Rod Peterson even suggested there might be a another job for her at the station, working on the station's website — but with a catch.
"He said it doesn’t pay the same, and nothing on air, nothing on camera. And when I heard that, I knew it was like a punch to the gut," Heitshusen testified in court. "It meant I was good enough to work behind the scenes, I was good enough to work on the web, but we don’t want you in front of the camera."
In tearful testimony, Heitshusen spoke about her love for her job, the sense of purpose she'd lost when it was gone, and the signs she'd seen even before her termination that women were not on a level playing field with men.
