Live. Late-Breaking. Litigation.

Undoubtedly I have written more stories about Kansas City's CBS affiliate, the bucking bronco known as KCTV-5, than any other station in town.  I wrote about its  controversial hospital-scene reporting, its even more controversial sex-sting reporting, its unbelievably controversial weather coverage, and much more.

But here's a story I haven't written until now, because former KCTV-5 employees weren't willing to go on the record until now. 

Lawsuits reveal a time of turbulence at KCTV

A gain in ratings came at a high human cost in the newsroom, court filings indicate.

Recent lawsuits have shed new light on the dramatic makeover that turned “KCTV-5 News at 10” into the most-watched newscast in town.

KCTV, the CBS affiliate owned by Iowa-based Meredith Corp., had long been called a “country club” both by outsiders and the veteran journalists who toiled comfortably there.

In 2001, however, sagging ratings brought new management and a bruising culture change. All but a handful of on-air talent was replaced. The unobtrusive style of KCTV newscasts was replaced with a hard-charging approach characterized by the slogan “Live. Late-Breaking. Investigative.” The makeover catapulted KCTV back into the ratings race.

Documents filed in U.S. District Court in Kansas from 2005 to 2007 allege, however, that this turnaround came at a high human cost.

Stuart A. Lebow, who directed newscasts at KCTV from 1996 to 2003, said that age discrimination and harassment were widespread inside the newsroom during this period, resulting in dozens of older staffers leaving.

According to Lebow’s lawsuit, senior employees were singled out for criticism, reassigned to less desirable shifts and generally treated differently from younger, more recent hires.

Lebow says that when he complained to a company official, management put him on probation. His claims are buttressed by two similar lawsuits and numerous affidavits from former KCTV employees alleging rampant age bias at the station.

Neither side denies that wholesale changes occurred in the newsroom. Attorneys for Meredith, however, claim that other employees in their 40s and 50s were able to adapt to the faster-paced KCTV format, where video of a car wreck or a crime scene could be added to the newscast at the last minute.

But U.S. District Judge John Lungstrum ruled May 4 in Kansas City, Kan., that KCTV managers had engaged in “arguably retaliatory conduct” against Lebow. The judge declined Meredith’s request to have the case dismissed, and Meredith settled out of court with Lebow this week. A corporate spokesman for Meredith declined to comment on the case.

The supporting documents filed by Lebow’s attorneys paint a picture of a tense newsroom culture pitting younger, less-seasoned workers against older, experienced ones.

Teri Schaefer, who worked as a reporter at KCTV after a long career at WDAF-TV, Channel 4, the Fox affiliate, said in an affidavit that she observed “a consistent pattern of younger workers given the better time slots and work schedules,” while “older workers were ignored (or) harassed.”

Schaefer left KCTV during this period. Her husband, Dave Helling, left KCTV in 2005 and is now a reporter at The Kansas City Star.

“Younger workers were encouraged, and their mistakes were overlooked,” stated an affidavit from Maria Carr, a master control operator in her 40s who left KCTV during this time. Ed Wilming, a videographer in his 60s who worked at KCTV from 1980 to 2006, stated in court documents that “older people were put on the worst working hours,” such as early morning newscasts.

One of the exhibits filed by Lebow’s attorneys lists the names and birthdates of 101 employees at KCTV who were age 40 or older in 2001, when the newsroom shake-up began. Three years later, more than half — 57 employees — had left the station.

The two other age-bias lawsuits were filed by videographers. Stephen DeWalt, 56, left in early 2004 after 31 years at KCTV.

“People that had any length of time with Meredith and were over 40 years old were pretty much rounded up (and) herded out the door,” he stated in his affidavit.

DeWalt also sued Meredith for age discrimination, but Lungstrum dismissed the case earlier this month.

A third age-discrimination lawsuit, filed by Tom Talbert, 54, was settled in January. The terms of the settlements are confidential. All three plaintiffs were represented by Sarah A. Brown of the Kansas City law firm Randles Mata & Brown.

Lebow stated that in 2002 his supervisors suddenly began criticizing his work and demoting him. He was assigned to direct a new weekday newscast at 4:30 p.m. but was relieved one month later and ordered to operate a camera instead.

In 2003, Lebow got a morning newscast to direct, but this lasted only three months before a much younger director was brought in to replace him. His supervisor at the time noted that as the morning show became “more complex,” Lebow “was unable to perform satisfactorily.”

Regent Ducas, the news director who supervised the overhaul of KCTV news, testified that Lebow suffered an “inability to deal with changes” caused by new stories arriving just before airtime.

“Not only do things happen before the show, they will oftentimes happen during the show,” stated Ducas, who is now a news director in Dallas. “Stu was not real good at adjusting to these kinds of changes and getting late-breaking news on the air in a clean fashion.”

On July 12, 2003, Lebow complained to the KCTV human relations office. Six days later, he received a memo from his supervisor stating that he was being placed on probation.

“Where you have failed to improve is in your efforts to improve the actual on air quality as it related to your job,” the memo stated. Lebow contends that he did not receive a performance review that year and had no warning that his job might be in jeopardy.

Meredith’s lawyers countered that Lebow stated he has attention-deficit, bipolar and anxiety disorders and migraine headaches. They argued that these medical reasons, not age bias, were the cause of his removal from directing KCTV newscasts. In 2004, Lebow went on disability leave but remained an employee at the station even after filing suit against Meredith in late 2005.

The culture shift at KCTV took place against a backdrop of corporate upheaval inside Meredith’s broadcast division. Kirk Black, who was 34 when he was hired to run KCTV in 2001, was one of just two general managers to survive the reign of Kevin O’Brien, a controversial news executive whom Meredith brought in three months after Black’s hiring to revitalize the 12 TV stations owned by the company.

O’Brien replaced most of the other top managers in the chain before his departure in 2004.

The Star’s Dan Margolies  contributed to this report.  This story originally appeared on page A-1 of the Kansas City Star, May 26, 2007.

Comments

[KTVT]

The same thing is taking place at KTVT in Dallas.

[stu]

And what's the common thread there?

[Aaron]

Regent Ducas of course ... Stu.

[Christopher Francis]

What a shame. KCTV used to be a lot classier than this. Having grown up in KC, I remember when it was "Eyewitness News," then "Kansas City's News." I remember Wendall Anschutz, Ann Petersen, Stan Carmack, and Fred Broski. The station wasn't number one, but it was no cellar-dweller, either. They made their sacrifices to the ratings and consultant gods, pumped up the crime and slime, but they forgot about karma. Now it's gonna cost them, if there's any justice.

[Deidre]

Same thing is happening at the Meredith station in Nashville...Obviously age discrimination is corporate policy. As Kevin O'Brien once said when he entered the building at Meredith's WGCl in Atlanta,,"There are far too many old people here..get rid of 'em!"