Two CBS Executives Suspended Following Allegations of Creating a Hostile Work Environment
Top CBS local TV executives Peter Dunn and David Friend have been placed on administrative leave after an LA Times investigation revealed poor treatment of women and people of color.
Dunn, president of CBS Television Stations, and Friend, senior vice president of news, are in hot water following their suspensions on Monday after concerning details emerged from the LA Times report. The report featured interviews with several female CBS employees who alleged the executives’ racist and sexist behaviors.
The employees described accounts of bullying female managers and attempts to stop Black journalists from being hired or keeping their positions. The report focuses on the mistreatment of employees at the CBS station in Philadelphia, which Dunn ran between 2002 and 2004.
THANK YOU Meg James & @latimes. Peter Dunn & David Friend hurt me & lots of my colleagues, they’re bad people. Until Meg the @CalDFEH @USEEOC @FCC took no interest in the 10 years I told them about it. Dunn & Friend must be fired immediately. The “C” in CBS is for Corrupt. @NABJ https://t.co/rwO3NwPARC
— Kyle Hunter, FRMetS (@KyleHunter) January 26, 2021
Ukee Washington, a beloved Black news anchor at CBS KYW in Philadelphia, was mentioned as being on the receiving end of Dunn’s racist remarks. Dunn described Washington as a “jive guy” and made complaints about his dancing.
This isn’t the first time CBS has come under fire with serious allegations of mistreating its employees. Back in 2018, then chairman Les Moonves was fired after several female employees alleged sexual misconduct.
@CBS please backup your commitment to promote diversity and fairness for all people of color by firing Peter Dunn and David Friend. We are watching!
— PRQUEGUY (@PRqueguy) January 26, 2021
According to LA Times in 2018, there was an investigation into the corporate culture at CBS where the law firms involved were aware of the claims about Dunn and Friend but said they found no evidence of harassment. Dozens of CBS employees expressed their concerns about the outcome of the investigation and wondered if the company was truly interested in making a change.
I met @UkeeWashington at a fundraiser for the Marian Anderson Museum a few years ago. Total class act, and an absolute legend in #Philly. On top of the ignorant racism, how dumb does Peter Dunn have to be to not see how much Ukee means to the city of Philadelphia?
— Johnny Goodtimes (@JohnnyGoodtimes) January 26, 2021
Following this week’s report, the National Association of Black Journalists, or NABJ, met with several CBS executives, including CEO George Cheeks and Marva Smalls, executive vice president and global head of inclusion, and demanded that Dunn and Friend be fired. Many others agree and have shown their support for Washington, including his daily viewers in Philadelphia.
UKEE Washington, “Good morning, Family!”
— E. Constância (@vivendo_amorosa) January 26, 2021
HE IS A GEM, A TRUE TREASURE OF PHILLY. HIS SMILE BRIGHTENS MY DAY (OR EVENING!)
UKEE & ALL AT CBS 3 DEMEANED IN THIS WAY, you didn’t deserve this.
(David Friend and Peter Dunn are A DISGRACE! BLACK LIST THESE JERKS!)@UkeeWashington
“It’s a shame that 45 years after NABJ was founded by 44 brave Black journalists, we are still having to contend with racism,” said Roland S. Martin, NABJ’s vice president of digital. After speaking with Cheeks and Smalls, Martin says the NABJ feels hopeful that “real, substantial and substantive changes at CBS” will come.
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