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White Reporter Accuses Fox TV of Racial Bias
Courthouse News Service ^ | Wednesday, May 06, 2009

Posted on 05/08/2009 12:13:44 PM PDT by nickcarraway

A white reporter accuses Fox TV of racial bias in suspending and firing him for suggesting, in a newsroom meeting, that the station not shy away from using "the N word" in a report on an NAACP youth group's ceremony "to symbolically bury the word '******' and its negative connotations."

Plaintiff Thomas Burlington says that during a news meeting on June 23, 2007, the reporter on the story (nonparty) Robin Taylor, "used the euphemistic phrase 'the n-word' rather than the actual word '******.'

"Plaintiff expressed his opinion that using the phrase 'the n-word' rather than the actual word '*****' ultimately gives the word itself more power. Ms. Taylor responded that she personally did not feel that it was appropriate to use the word '*****' and that she would not do so during her broadcast presentation.

"While plaintiff was speaking, he noticed that Nicole Wolfe (black), newscast producer, seemed uncomfortable with his comments. Immediately after the meeting ended, plaintiff approached Ms. Wolfe and apologized if he had offended her with his comments.

"Approximately one hour after the meeting ended, Joyce Evans (black), weekend anchor/reporter, told plaintiff that he had offended some people with the word that he used. Ms. Evans was not present at the editorial meeting and was not privy to the discussion that plaintiff had with Ms. Wolfe."

Burlington, who was hired in December 2004 as a reporter and promoted to reporter and weekend news anchor in February 2006, says he apologized personally to everyone who was at the meeting. Nonetheless, he says, he was suspended on June 29, and the suspension lasted until he was fired in February 2008.

Burlington says an inaccurate story in the Philadelphia Daily News complicated things. Burlington says a company-"sanctioned" counselor met with him on July 7, 2007, and found "that she did not believe that he had any racial bias or related issued and that she planned to report that he was 'fit for duty.'"

But he says the Daily News reported on July 5, in "a false and defamatory article," that he had "used the word '*****' more than 12 times in a 'bizarre' and 'shocking' sermon. The article implied that plaintiff's belief was that using the word '*****' in any context was 'not a big deal.' Upon information and belief, the article was based on false and defamatory statements made by employees of defendants."

Burlington says Fox never let him return from suspension, but cited the Daily News article in a July 12 meeting at which he was told "that due to the negative publicity from the article in The Daily News and concerns that defendants had for this safety and the safety of the photographers with whom he worked, defendants did not want him to return to work." He says he was given the chance to resign, refused, and was not allowed to return from suspension until he was fired 7 months later.

Burlington claims he was "subjected to a hostile work environment based on his race," and that his firing was "pretextual," discriminatory, and done with "reckless indifference." He demands punitive damages.

The Daily News is not named as a party in this federal lawsuit. Defendants are News Corp., Fox Television Stations, and Fox Television Stations of Philadelphia. Burlington is represented by Stephen Console.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: foxtv; media; racialfox
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To: nickcarraway
Will people start calling him N*gger guy?
21 posted on 05/08/2009 12:53:34 PM PDT by Hacklehead (Liberalism is the art of taking what works, breaking it, and then blaming conservatives.)
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To: nickcarraway

I &&&&&&& that %%%%%%% is ####### and that $$$$$$$ is !!!!!!!! +++++++.


22 posted on 05/08/2009 12:53:43 PM PDT by matt1234
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To: Sherman Logan

I think the fired reporter has a case.


23 posted on 05/08/2009 1:03:04 PM PDT by swain_forkbeard (Rationality may not be sufficient, but it is necessary.)
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To: Hacklehead

Ummm.... I know it, Pat, but I don’t know if I should saaay it...


24 posted on 05/08/2009 1:03:16 PM PDT by ichabod1 (I am rolling over in my grave and I am not even dead yet (GOP Poet))
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To: swain_forkbeard

Only if he can make a case that a black reporter saying the same thing would not have been fired, and possibly not then.


25 posted on 05/08/2009 1:06:05 PM PDT by Sherman Logan (Everyone has a right to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.)
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To: matt1234

Sure, but they have no problem using the word “******” all the time.


26 posted on 05/08/2009 1:06:22 PM PDT by socal_parrot (I hate to say I told you so, but...)
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To: Hacklehead

One of the funniest South Park’s ever!


27 posted on 05/08/2009 1:06:34 PM PDT by GoDuke
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To: Dr. Ursus

“WHAT?!?” - townsfolk of Rock Ridge


28 posted on 05/08/2009 1:07:31 PM PDT by Cletus.D.Yokel (FreepMail me if you want on the Bourbon ping list!)
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To: tatsinfla

You STILL won’t be able to say them in media. (H/T to Geo. Carlin)


29 posted on 05/08/2009 1:08:27 PM PDT by Cletus.D.Yokel (FreepMail me if you want on the Bourbon ping list!)
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To: Sig Sauer P220

“I know the answer but...I don’t think I should say it.” - South Park


30 posted on 05/08/2009 1:09:10 PM PDT by Cletus.D.Yokel (FreepMail me if you want on the Bourbon ping list!)
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To: Hacklehead

"Kiss it!"

31 posted on 05/08/2009 1:11:48 PM PDT by dfwgator (1996 2006 2008 - Good Things Come in Threes)
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To: Sherman Logan

From another article I read, I think that is exactly the case his lawyer intends to make.

They could wind up trying the idea that there are words which some people are allowed to use and others are not.

I think it gets settled.


32 posted on 05/08/2009 1:11:50 PM PDT by swain_forkbeard (Rationality may not be sufficient, but it is necessary.)
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To: Hacklehead

Apologize!
33 posted on 05/08/2009 1:16:04 PM PDT by ichabod1 (I am rolling over in my grave and I am not even dead yet (GOP Poet))
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To: swain_forkbeard

Wow, that could go all the way to the top...


34 posted on 05/08/2009 1:17:35 PM PDT by ichabod1 (I am rolling over in my grave and I am not even dead yet (GOP Poet))
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To: nickcarraway

First of all “Retarded Reporter”. Yes, it’s stupid to use “the N word”, but “nigger” just seems like a step in the wrong direction too. Maybe “racial epithat”.

Just because someone called a person a “b&tch” doesn’t mean I want it used repeatedly on the news.


35 posted on 05/08/2009 1:36:42 PM PDT by autumnraine (Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose- Kris Kristoferrson)
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To: tatsinfla
before we know it there will only be 7 allowable words for us to use in the english language....

All praise president for life barrak obama?

36 posted on 05/08/2009 1:38:23 PM PDT by Dosa26
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To: freekitty

no, a non-hispanic or a non-african american, etc. (Sarcasm)


37 posted on 05/08/2009 1:46:06 PM PDT by klimeckg ("The penalty good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.")
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To: Dosa26

There’s only one word YOU need to be concerning yourself with: Crimethink.


38 posted on 05/08/2009 1:53:27 PM PDT by ichabod1 (I am rolling over in my grave and I am not even dead yet (GOP Poet))
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To: klimeckg

Ah seen white n*****s. Seen a lots o’em.


39 posted on 05/08/2009 1:54:52 PM PDT by ichabod1 (I am rolling over in my grave and I am not even dead yet (GOP Poet))
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To: nickcarraway

Just thinning the newsroom of morons.


40 posted on 05/08/2009 1:57:19 PM PDT by AppyPappy (If you aren't part of the solution, there is good money to be made prolonging the problem.)
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