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‘Fairness must apply to everyone’: Former WBZ anchor Kate Merrill makes first public comments on lawsuit
"I support efforts to ensure newsrooms are reflective of the communities they serve," Merrill wrote on Facebook. “That is not what this case is about."
Kate Merrill, the former WBZ anchor who claims she was discriminated against because she is white, acknowledged her lawsuit against her old employer publicly for the first time Wednesday.
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“For more than two decades, I proudly shared the stories of Boston as a journalist at WBZ-TV. I poured my heart into this work because I believe deeply in the power of journalism to inform, connect, and uplift a community I love,” Merrill wrote on her public Facebook account.
Merrill filed a federal lawsuit earlier this month, a year after she abruptly left her anchor role shortly after her 20-year anniversary at WBZ. She’s suing for $4 million, claiming she was discriminated against on the basis of her gender and her race.
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The defendants named in the suit include Jason Mikell, who was a newly hired Black meteorologist when Merrill left the station, and Courtney Cole, a Black anchor, who allegedly accused her of microaggressions and unconscious bias.
Merrill was demoted from the weekday morning show to working weekend nights, which the lawsuit characterized as “career ending.”
“It is with profound sadness that I now find myself in the position of bringing a legal complaint against a station and company that I once considered part of my family,” Merrill said Wednesday. “This decision was not made lightly. It was made because I believe fairness must apply to everyone, regardless of race, gender, or background and I was not treated fairly.”
Merrill: ‘I support efforts to ensure newsrooms are reflective of the communities they serve’
In the lawsuit, Merrill denies any of her actions were motivated by overt racism or unconscious bias.
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“I support efforts to ensure newsrooms are reflective of the communities they serve,” she wrote on Facebook.
“That is not what this case is about,” she continued. “It’s about ensuring that no one is unjustifiably pushed aside simply because an organization wants to meet a target or an agenda.”
Merrill filed an HR complaint about Mikell after he yelled and confronted her for correcting his pronunciation of “Concord,” according to the lawsuit. About a week later, Merrill was informed she was being investigated after simultaneous allegations from Cole and Mikell.
She was accused of telling Mikell that he would “find his people” in Boston. She was also accused of routinely criticizing him, not asking him about his weekends, and saying he could be a garbage collector during “dirty job” banter about his jobs segment, according to the lawsuit.
Merrill allegedly recommended to Cole that she work in Nashville, which Cole allegedly took to mean it “would be a better racial fit” for her, the lawsuit said. Merrill maintains that the comment was about career opportunities and how much Merrill enjoyed working in Nashville.
When investigated by her company, Merrill defended her statements, saying that “all my garbage collectors are white” and that Nashville is not a majority-minority city, the lawsuit said.
‘Boston is my home.’
In the lawsuit, Merrill claims Mikell had asked her to help him with his pronunciation, and according to text messages in the lawsuit, so had his superior.
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“I have spent my career championing voices from all communities, mentoring young journalists of every background, and covering stories that reflect the full spectrum of life in our city,” Merrill wrote on Facebook. “I am proud of that legacy, and I remain proud of the work I did at WBZ.”
“Boston is my home,” Merrill continued. “Telling this city’s stories has been my greatest professional privilege. I hope that through this process, the values of accountability and fairness I’ve always tried to uphold will be honored, too.”
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