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Jill Arrington was a star in TV sports. Then, 4 years ago, the onetime NFL sideline reporter traded national exposure for what she thought would exist a more stable job at CBS' television stations in Los Angeles.

Arrington loved chronicling the Rams and other pro teams, and somewhen took on additional duties as the weekend sports anchor for KCBS-TV Channel 2 and KCAL-Television Channel nine. But i thing well-nigh her job galled her: She was earning nearly $60,000 less a year than the male anchor she replaced.

When her contract came up for renewal, Arrington told the station'due south pinnacle managers that it was unacceptable to pay a woman so much less than a man.

"Oooh, isn't she tough," Arrington recalls the one-time full general manager of CBS' L.A. stations, Steve Mauldin, saying during a March 2018 meeting. She said Mauldin turned to his lieutenant and said: "This one talks more my married woman."

The coming together ended with no assurance of a raise. Merely as Arrington started to leave, she said her boss told her: "Put on a tennis apparel and meet me at the golf club. We'll put y'all on tape, and y'all can make some extra money."

Arrington had experienced come-ons in her years covering sports, but zilch like this. She confided in a colleague, who recalled that Arrington was "frantic and scared" later the exchange. In an interview terminal week, Mauldin denied making the remarks. "That didn't happen," he said. "That's the almost absurd thing. I would not talk to women that way."

Six months after that meeting, a bombshell detonated at the highest level of the company: CBS' larger-than-life master executive, Leslie Moonves, was ousted over claims he harassed and assaulted multiple women decades ago.

After a loftier-profile probe into Moonves' conduct and the company's workplace civilization, independent police force firms hired by CBS concluded that "harassment and retaliation are not pervasive at CBS." But a Times investigation has uncovered claims of bigotry, retaliation and other forms of mistreatment in an overlooked merely significant corner of the company: the concatenation of CBS-owned television set stations.

CBS' Chief Executive Leslie Moonves was ousted in 2018 over claims he harassed and assaulted multiple women.

(Katie Falkenberg / Los Angeles Times)

More than 2 dozen current and sometime employees of KCBS and KCAL described a toxic surroundings where, they said, employees encountered age bigotry, misogyny, and sexual harassment — and retaliation if they complained.

Discrimination complaints take also surfaced at CBS-owned stations in Chicago, Dallas and Miami. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Committee filed a lawsuit confronting CBS after investigating allegations that station managers in Dallas denied a total-time position to a 42-twelvemonth-old traffic reporter and instead hired a 24-year-erstwhile former NFL cheerleader who didn't meet the job's requirements. CBS denied that information technology engaged in bigotry.

In belatedly November, presently before a scheduled trial, CBS reached a tentative agreement to resolve an age discrimination and retaliation lawsuit brought by award-winning Miami-based journalist Michele Gillen, who sued CBS last year. The company admitted no liability in the agreement. In her court filings, Gillen called CBS a "good ole boys social club" that "protects men despite bad behavior."

Michele Gillen, a well-known investigative reporter in Due south Florida, chosen CBS a "good ole boys club."

(Candace West / For The Times)

Managing a nationwide television station group with thousands of employees is challenging, CBS Television Stations President Peter Dunn said in a statement. But, he added, "the vast majority enjoy where they work every day and have corking pride in serving their local customs. At the aforementioned time, I am very mindful that in a large company we have people who are unhappy at times. We respect all voices who express workplace concerns to united states of america."

The task has become even more than challenging due to profound shifts in media. Television receiver stations are no longer the profit centers they used to be. At some stations, including KCBS and KCAL, anchors take seen their salaries shaved to salve money. Highly paid employees are booted, and station managers increasingly rely on part-fourth dimension workers to evangelize the news. Merely networks withal haven't attracted younger audiences.

"Like all local stations, nosotros are competing for viewers in an evolving media world," Dunn said. "This evolution has created natural tension with some employees and external constituents."

Transforming the Boob tube station business organization, which remains rooted in old-schoolhouse economic science and attitudes, is a key challenge for the newly created ViacomCBS Inc. media visitor. In many ways, Television stations are stuck in a bygone era where women are judged past their appearance, and subjected to overt and subtle discrimination. Skin-tight dresses remain the norm. Older workers watch every bit coveted assignments go to younger reporters every bit stations try to appeal to younger viewers.

CBS is non the only broadcaster struggling with business concern shifts and complaints of ageism. L.A. station KTLA-TV Channel v, formerly owned by Tribune Media, as well equally the cable giant Charter Communications and the Sinclair Broadcast Group have all faced discrimination claims.

But CBS has a history of complaints, particularly in its treatment of women. In 2000, the visitor paid $eight million to settle a lawsuit brought by the EEOC, the regime agency that polices workplace police compliance. The agency establish that women at seven CBS Idiot box stations, including KCBS, endured a hostile work surround that included sexual harassment and retaliation for complaining. About 200 female person technicians at CBS stations — camera operators and engineers — were paid less than men and passed over for promotions, the EEOC establish.

Today, the two CBS stations in Los Angeles produce 78 hours of newscasts each calendar week, making it one of the city's busiest local Tv news operations. More than 120 people piece of work at the two stations' newsroom, which is wedged into CBS Studio Center, a busy Tv set production hub in Studio Urban center where Tv set shows such as "Brooklyn Nine-Ix" and "Why Women Kill" are shot. Moonves maintained a stately office on the lot, a curt distance from the stations' broadcast center, which sits a few yards from the site of the lagoon in "Gilligan's Island."

CBS' 2 L.A. stations share management and a newsroom at CBS Studio Center in Studio Metropolis.

(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

Known as "CBS L.A.," the stations share direction and a ground-floor newsroom. They are part of the chain of 28 stations owned past CBS.
In each market place, a general manager handles day-to-day operations just oversight of the group rests in New York. For the last decade, Dunn and David Friend, two executives in New York, have managed the group.

"CBS-owned stations get very little elbowroom in anything — it's just the corporate mind-prepare," said 1 veteran producer who was not authorized to annotate.

The L.A. stations were managed past Mauldin until last June, when he retired at age 70 subsequently 40 years in the Television station concern. He was friendly with Moonves, according to 2 people with the thing. Mauldin had previously been GM of CBS' stations in Dallas and Miami.

During the final 7 years, multiple women at the Los Angeles stations complained that they were discipline to harassment by their bosses or colleagues.

Early in 2018, prominent KCAL ballast Leyna Nguyen complained to KCBS management about inappropriate comments and unwanted touching by a male colleague, according to several people familiar with the matter. CBS spent months investigating the allegations but ended there was insufficient evidence of wrongdoing, according to a person familiar with the situation who was not authorized to comment publicly and requested anonymity.

Newscaster Leyna Nguyen settled with CBS after lament near inappropriate comments and unwanted touching by a male person colleague.

(Albert L. Ortega / Getty Images)

CBS reached a settlement with Nguyen in July 2018 — just days earlier the allegations almost Moonves became big news. Nguyen, a 20-twelvemonth employee who left KCBS following the incident, declined to annotate on the matter. CBS also struck a separation agreement with the person who was accused of the misconduct, and he also left. CBS did not admit liability in the thing. The employee denied wrongdoing and did not respond to a request for annotate placed through his attorney.

The station'southward then-head of makeup, Gwendolyn Gatti, backed Nguyen'south allegations. Gatti said the same employee harassed her, as well, and that he "propositioned her for sex, asked about her sex life," "slapped her on the buttocks," and used the Due north-discussion when referring to her, according to a lawsuit in a separate example. CBS settled the matter with Gatti on July 27, 2018, according to court records. In a court filing, a CBS chaser labeled Gatti's sexual harassment allegations "frivolous." CBS denied whatsoever liability, according to a partially redacted copy of Gatti's settlement agreement.

A erstwhile KCBS employee told The Times that he recalled a split up episode several years ago when Gatti was near tears and shaking with anger after a different colleague, a cameraman, forcefully slapped her on the buttocks. A second person confirmed that CBS investigated the slapping incident and the cameraman was disciplined.

Gatti was fired in September 2018, 2 months after her settlement. The 64-year-old makeup artist sued CBS in Los Angeles Superior Court in February, alleging wrongful termination, discrimination and retaliation. CBS, in courtroom documents, said Gatti was fired "afterwards she brought illegal drugs onto CBS holding, in violation of company policy."

In her lawsuit, Gatti said she realized her wallet was missing on Sept. 18, 2018, and called CBS' security function to run across if it had been turned it in. Afterwards that day, she said she was chosen to the security office and presented with what she said were two empty plastic bags that a security baby-sit claimed were found in her wallet. Gatti denied the bags were hers and "stated that she does not use any illegal drugs," co-ordinate to the lawsuit. She was fired the next mean solar day.

Nguyen and Gatti complained to direction about sexual harassment in March 2018, according to court records. This was the same month that Arrington, the weekend sports anchor, began inquiring nearly her contract renewal. A single mom, she had been at the station more than two years, her duties had increased, and she wanted a raise.

The Times independently confirmed that CBS was paying Arrington about $60,000 a year less than her male predecessor. Arrington said her goal simply was to extend her contract, which expired in Apr 2018, and get a bump in pay to an ballast's salary because she was putting in long hours serving as both a reporter and an anchor — appearing in as many as seven telecasts on a weekend shift.

Arrington was far from the highest-paid employee at the station, according to a person familiar with KCBS' finances. Her salary put her amongst the heart of the pack. She was told to talk over the situation with Mauldin, which led to the awkward exchange.

Arrington'due south colleague, Elsa Ramon, a quondam KCBS and KCAL anchor, confirmed that Arrington shared details well-nigh the incident with her soon after it occurred in early 2018.

"She was uncomfortable," Ramon said. "Mauldin made a suggestion that she engage in some activeness," calculation that she viewed information technology every bit a quid pro quo state of affairs.

Elsa Ramon used to work as an anchor at KCBS and KCAL in Los Angeles, but she became disillusioned by the TV station'south atmosphere, which she described as hostile.

(Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

A second CBS executive who attended the meeting said he didn't recall Mauldin making inappropriate comments. Arrington claims that executive left the coming together just earlier she did. The second executive and Mauldin said they felt that Arrington was out of line in asking for a substantial raise over her $135,000 annual salary at a time when the station was struggling to control costs. (Arrington said she fabricated no specific salary demands, and merely asked to exist paid what other anchors in 50.A. were making.)

"I thought she was making a good salary," Mauldin said. "She thought she was worth more."

Arrington initially was reluctant to talk to The Times.

Before joining KCBS, the 47-year-old Georgia native worked at Fox Sports, ESPN and CBS Sports, where she was seen by millions of viewers on the sidelines of NFL games and hosting shows about college football and NASCAR. Playboy readers in a 2000 online poll voted her America's "sexiest sportscaster." She declined the $1-million offer to pose for the magazine.

She arrived at KCBS and KCAL in 2015 afterwards being recruited by Bill Dallman, a popular station news manager who was likewise a Fox Sports alum. Arrington said she accustomed the CBS stations job even though it meant lower pay and less exposure than a position at a national network. She was so in her 40s and working in on-air roles, a corner of the manufacture that tin can be unforgiving to women every bit they age.

Arrington nonetheless said she "felt information technology could be a whole new career for me, and a place where I could work for the next 10 years."

Dallman, who at present is news director for an ABC affiliate in Seattle, told The Times: "Jill and I both worked diligently to improve the quality of the on-air product and the culture in the building."

Arrington enjoyed her experience early on on, especially co-anchoring KCAL'southward weekend "Sports Central" with Gary Miller, an ESPN veteran. Miller, who now works at a Cincinnati station owned by Sinclair, said in an interview that Arrington was capable and a team player. Another KCBS reporter said: "She was one of the all-time we've ever had."

Miller said Arrington confided in him that she was uncomfortable with Mauldin's comments. Miller said he encouraged Arrington to mutter to the human relations department, but she felt her best option was to avert Mauldin. "He would offset talking about her appearance or enquire nearly her individual life," Miller said. "It was then inappropriate." Mauldin denied the claims, saying "there was never a fourth dimension when I put her in an uncomfortable position."

Miller was permit become in January 2017 due to upkeep cuts, and Arrington's workload increased.

There were other tensions, too, according to seven current and former station employees interviewed by The Times. Jim Colina, a quondam NFL player and a fixture in Fifty.A. broadcasting, was the station's chief sports personality and its sports director. He seemed uninterested in sharing the limelight, these people said.

"Jim wanted to handle the big stuff," Mauldin said, adding that Hill was one of his favorites. "He wanted to practice the large interviews, and I call up Jill had a problem with that. ... I don't call back people downwardly there [in sports] were comfortable beingness around her because of where her head was at."

(Paul A. Hebert / Invision/Associated Press)

Arrington'due south feature stories rarely appeared in Hill'south shows, she and others familiar with the situation said. Even a powerful report on an NFL lineman battling depression didn't brand the cutting. Instead, the station ran preseason baseball clips.

"She wasn't immune to practice stories that she wanted to do," Miller said.

Hill did non reply to a asking for comment.

Arrington said she tried to persevere: "I was merely hoping the quality of my piece of work would speak for itself."

In early August 2018, the high-profile investigation into CBS' culture began. Arrington's chaser, Bobby Hacker, said he reached out to lawyers conducting the review because of concerns about Arrington's treatment. Only Arrington didn't get a run a risk to talk to the investigators.

She was blindsided a week subsequently Aug. 22, 2018. It was her starting time day back at work afterward spending the weekend covering a Rams-Oakland Raiders preseason game. She was summoned to a conference room, where Tara Finestone, the news director who had replaced Dallman in January 2018, told her it was her last day.

Arrington demanded an explanation. She recalls Finestone saying: "We're non firing you. Nosotros are happy with the quality of your work." Instead, Arrington was told her position was no longer being staffed.

"I thanked her for her contributions and we talked about budgetary reasons," Finestone told The Times. "Hers was the position that we decided to eliminate."

More than a year subsequently, Arrington still hasn't landed a new chore and she fears for her time to come.

"My takeaway from my experience at KCBS is that they were more concerned with protecting political alignments rather than the quality of their on-air broadcasts," she said.

Colleagues and others besides were confused by her abrupt difference. "My dealings with Jill were always first rate," said Steve Brener, Dodgers spokesman. "She was professional and easy to piece of work with. And so one twenty-four hours, she wasn't here any more."

Other station staffers say management decisions tin be capricious and punitive. In 2013, Emmy Award-winning KCBS reporter Joy Benedict, who had just become the wedlock shop steward at the station, posted a photo on Facebook of herself playfully posing on a behemothic chess board while on vacation in Miami with the caption, "Who wants to play with me???" Executives in New York became upset when a Idiot box industry blog reposted the picture. They ordered KCBS managers to fire Benedict over the picture, according to 3 people with knowledge of the incident. KCBS executives felt that was too harsh of a punishment simply they yet assigned Benedict to primarily work less desirable weekend shifts. CBS representatives pointed out that she has since been given additional on-air opportunities at KCBS and CBS News.

Nancy London, who worked at CBS for 34 years, plant herself on the outs later years of favorable performance reviews.

Virtually a decade ago, London, who worked at KCBS in technical services, received a new assignment and a new boss. He "harassed and ridiculed" her, she claimed in a lawsuit, alleging age, race and sex discrimination. London is African American. When she complained to HR, she said the situation grew worse. In July 2011, she was confronted past her boss and iii other men who "railed upon" her in a group setting, London declared in courtroom filings. She fainted, requiring medical attention, according to the lawsuit.

A week afterward, London was fired.

London sued CBS in 2012, alleging wrongful termination. CBS dismissed London's business relationship every bit baseless. CBS settled the case in 2013 and did non admit liability. London declined to annotate.

Several older CBS workers in L.A. also have alleged that they have been discipline to age discrimination. The company as well has come under criticism for its utilise of so-chosen per diem reporters, some of whom have worked for CBS for decades. These employees refer to themselves as freelancers, but some have been there so long that they jokingly call themselves "perma-lancers."

Los Angeles relies heavily on per diem talent, according to executives and agents. The system causes resentment because it results in 2 classes of staff members working next. Using more per diem, part-fourth dimension workers allows the stations to relieve money on personnel costs.

"People want to work in L.A., and so there is a bigger pool of talent," said one veteran CBS executive. "It comes down to market conditions."

In the last 18 months, the station hired several new office-time reporters in their 20s. Younger reporters tend to go marquee weekday slots, which has caused resentment among some veterans, according to interviews and a review of KCBS staffing schedules.

In the simply-completed November sweeps, KCBS and KCAL tied for sixth place in Los Angeles in viewership to late local newscasts. Market leaders are Walt Disney Co.'s KABC-Television set Channel 7 and Univision's KMEX-Tv set Channel 34.

"They are trying to cut, cutting, cutting and it's taking a cost," said Ramon, the former anchor who left the station in spring 2018. Ramon, 48, left rather than return to the weekend shift after spending two years filling in on prominent weekday newscasts because she cherished that time with her kids. She said she did not feel sexual harassment, but she didn't see any opportunity for advocacy, particularly because the station was investing in younger workers. "I felt that I was just spinning my wheels," she said.

Numerous people said the temper at KCBS and KCAL deteriorated after Dallman left.

Six employees told the Times that what they perceived equally a hostile atmosphere at the station contributed to their conclusion to get out it in recent years.

Earlier this twelvemonth, KCBS employees brought their concerns about stagnant wages and reliance on long-term freelancers to their union, SAG-AFTRA. Most 2 dozen reporters and anchors signed a petition in May. A matrimony representative declined to annotate on pending negotiations.

Mauldin denied that women were treated poorly or underpaid and said that the highest-paid talent was thirty-twelvemonth anchor Pat Harvey, a woman.

"We didn't pay women less than men because they were women," he said. "We respect everyone. But when y'all cut dorsum in business, it'south hard on people."

CBS has faced workplace complaints in other divisions. Scott Pelley, 62, the respected old anchor of the "CBS Evening News," told CNN that he lost his job as chief anchor "considering I wouldn't terminate complaining ... well-nigh the hostile work environment." CBS also ousted two large names — morning news ballast Charlie Rose and quondam "hr" executive producer Jeff Fager — over allegations of inappropriate conduct.

CBS' board a year ago acknowledged shortcomings. "Historical policies [and] practices ... have not reflected a high institutional priority on preventing harassment and retaliation," the board said of the investigators' findings.

At KCBS and KCAL, a new general manager, Jay Howell, arrived in July, after spending the previous year running CBS stations in Pittsburgh.

Some staff members said they uncertainty reforms will filter downwardly to the local stations.

"I don't think they care about the states," said one insider, who did not want to be identified out of fear of existence punished.

Times staff writer Stacy Perman and staff researcher Scott Wilson contributed to this report.

Source: https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2019-12-08/cbs-tv-stations-toxic-culture

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