Thursday, March 28, 2024

BNC/Black News Channel Sees Gender-discrimination Accusations Expand

BNC - Mike Hill Sharon Reed Pricell Hair
This image released by BNC shows Mike Hill, left, and Sharon Reed posing with Black News Channel president & CEO Princell Hair.

*(Via Journal-isms) – More women came forward Tuesday to lodge gender-discrimination accusations against Black News Channel, now branding itself as BNC. They bring the plaintiffs to 13.

In addition to original plaintiffs Ashley Flete, a former anchor who first filed suit with Claudia Jean last August (scroll down), “the other plaintiffs include . . . executive producer Maria Roach, newsroom executive Felicia Burton, director Lauren Coleman, line producer Kyra Branch and part-time assignment editor Kisha Wilkinson; six additional plaintiffs are listed as ‘Jane Doe’ on the complaint. Only Branch and one unnamed plaintiff are still working at BNC; all others were either fired or resigned,” Antoinette Siu reported Wednesday for The Wrap.

The network announced layoffs right before Christmas, leading Scott Jones of the FTVLive website to write, “It is getting to the point where Black News [Channel] might have as many lawsuits against them as they do viewers that watch them.” Jones published a portion of Tuesday’s filing in Cook County (Ill.) Circuit Court.

MORE NEWS ON EURWEB: Black News Channel Under Fire for Gender Discrimination, Poor Workplace Synergy: Report

The network issued this statement Thursday:

“Unprofessional and inappropriate conduct within our workplace environment is not tolerated. We take these matters seriously and have policies in place that prohibit all forms of unlawful behavior, as well as other conduct that is incompatible with our company values. We have investigated each of these claims thoroughly and will soon be filing our motion to dismiss based on several grounds. In addition, we are pursuing multiple actions related to the plaintiffs’ counsel’s pattern of ethical misconduct and are looking forward to our day in court.”

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