ViacomCBS has suspended the two powerful heads of its TV station group, Peter Dunn and David Friend, amid growing allegations that the couple have cultivated an environment that bullies female executives and attempts to hire and block black journalists .
CBS said in a statement late Monday that the two veteran executives were being “placed on administrative leave, pending the outcome of a third-party investigation into issues that include: Los Angeles Times report. CBS is committed to a diverse, inclusive and respectful workplace where all voices are heard, demands are investigated and appropriate steps are taken where necessary. “
CBS took action just one day after The Times published an investigation into how senior executives despise CBS station employees in Philadelphia, the country’s fourth largest media market. Dunn ran the Philadelphia station from 2002 to 2004 before making several promotions. For the past 11 years, he has headed CBS ’28 television stations across the country, including KCBS-TV Channel 2 and KCAL-TV Channel 9 in Los Angeles.
The division has 2,800 employees and provides local news to millions of viewers living in cities where CBS owns a television station, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas, Chicago and New York.
Hours after The Times published its investigation on Sunday, the National Assn. of the black journalists met with high-level ViacomCBS executives, including George Cheeks, CEO of CBS Entertainment, and Marva Smalls, executive vice president of ViacomCBS, who oversees the company’s diversity and inclusion efforts. During the meeting, NABJ leaders said they had raised other complaints and demanded that CBS fire Dunn and one of his lieutenants, Friend, the senior vice president for news.
In a statement, NABJ criticized CBS’s rental practices at its flagship TV station, WCBS-TV Channel 2 in New York, and said the station recently hired a full-time black male reporter in New York after five years without one. NABJ also said that WCBS has only one full-time black female reporter and only one black news producer in New York. In addition to overseeing the entire CBS TV station chain, Dunn has managed WCBS since 2005.
Cheeks, who took over the operations of the legendary broadcast company last March, sent a notice to CBS staff shortly before 7.30pm in Pacific time announcing the move and acknowledging that it was a difficult few days was. ‘
Cheeks said CBS chief operating officer Bryon Rubin would take over the leadership of the TV station group on an interim basis. “Bryon is very familiar with your business and is ready to support your efforts.”
He also noted the meeting with the NABJ delegation.
“We have promised to continue a dialogue with the NABJ on our best way forward,” Cheeks wrote.
Peter Dunn, who was inducted into the Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame Awards in 2017, has managed the CBS television station group since 2009.
(Andy Kropa / Invision / AP)
The Times report sheds new light on CBS ‘purchase of $ 55 million from a small independent television station, WLNY-TV Channel 55 on New York’s Long Island in 2011 – an agreement that includes membership in the ultra-exclusive Sebonack Golf Club in Southampton. NY The founder and former owner of WLNY, entrepreneur Michael Pascucci, has applied for a membership at its 300-acre retreat as part of the TV station sale.
CBS said the Sebonack membership belongs to the company, but that it was placed in Dunn’s name because the club does not have corporate membership. According to the company, the membership is used to entertain customers and business partners.
Current and former CBS executives also question the thoroughness of CBS ‘sensational 2018 corporate culture investigation, saying outside law firms are aware of the allegations about Dunn and Friend. In the Times review of court documents, CBS’s internal communications and interviews with two dozen current and former employees of the CBS television station, it was found that many were concerned by the outcome of the investigation, questioning the company’s commitment to its culture. to tidy up.
“The then senior management addressed the situation with Mr Dunn, and the company has not received any complaints about his behavior since,” CBS said last week.
Dunn declined to comment on the allegations.
CBS earlier defended its inclusion effort at the KYW Channel 3 television station in Philadelphia, saying 45% of the station’s reporters and anchors are black, indigenous and other colored.
“I believe I – and our stations – have a strong track record of hiring, supporting and placing women and BIPOC journalists in key roles as anchors, reporters and news directors,” Friend said in an earlier statement. “These remarks I may have made about our employees or prospective hires were based solely on performance or qualifications – not on someone’s race or gender.”
Two former senior executives in Philadelphia – Margaret Cronan and Brien Kennedy – told The Times that Dunn made derogatory comments about the station’s popular fan, Ukee Washington, who is a distant cousin of actor Denzel Washington. Among the complaints, Dunn allegedly called Washington “just a jive guy” and criticized Washington’s dancing.
After the report, the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Tribune wrote about the situation. CBS’s KYW also took a stand with sports anchor Don Bell during the newscast at 5pm, calling Washington ‘our quarterback and the crown jewel of Philly …. The good people at this station reject racism and misogyny in all its forms – no matter where or from whom it may come. ”
Alleged comments about Cke’s KYW station anchor, Ukee Washington, caused an outpouring of support. “Ukee is our quarterback, he’s the crown jewel of Philly,” KYW sports anchor Don Bell said on Monday.
(Gilbert Carrasquillo / Getty Images)
Washington has been a permanent fixture at KYW since the mid-1980s and was elevated to the mainstay when Kennedy, the former general manager, arrived at the station in 2015. Before that, Washington spent 19 years as a morning anchor and a decade as a sports anchor.
In addition to commenting on Washington, Dunn allegedly refused to approve an extension of a contract for another black anchor, Rahel Solomon, a Philadelphia resident who served as a KYW anchor for more than two years. Kennedy, in an interview, said Dunn raised “bizarre objections” in a two-hour call. like saying, “I hate her face.”
Solomon left CBS in 2019 for CNBC.
“We are delighted with our conversation with George and Marva that there will be real, substantial and substantive changes at CBS to ensure that it is a welcoming place for blacks and other journalists to work, stand up and succeed. , “said Roland S. Martin. , Vice President of NABJ for Digital, said in a statement earlier Monday.