CNN SUED BY BLACK EMPLOYEES IN CLASS ACTION SUIT (TURNER & COMCAST vs BLACK PEOPLE)

CNN SUED BY BLACK EMPLOYEES IN CLASS ACTION SUIT:

I THOUGHT CNN (TED TURNER) WAS DOWN WITH BLACK PEOPLE, NOT TRYING TO KEEP BLACK PEOPLE DOWN??


Sources: AJC, NY Post


***** Black employees file racial discrimination class-action lawsuit against CNN, Turner

Former and current black employees on Tuesday filed a class action lawsuit against Atlanta-based CNN, Turner Broadcasting and New York based parent company Time Warner for racial discrimination.

“As a result of the current discrimination lawsuit filed on behalf of DeWayne Walker vs. CNN, Time Warner & Turner, we have uncovered stories involving abuse of power, nepotism, revenge, retaliation and discrimination,” said Daniel Meachum in a press release.

The press release provided a photo of DeWayne Walker, a CNN producer who sued CNN individually in January for $50 million for racial discrimination and retaliation for filing a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

He accused CNN of not promoting him over 13 years because he is black, skipped over frequently for promotions in favor of white employees.

According to his LinkedIn page, Walker is an integrated marketing manager at CNN.

Walker is not actually a plaintiff in this particular case but is a client of Meachum’s and his individual lawsuit is still active. Celeslie Henley, a former executive administrative assistant at CNN, and Ernest Colbert Jr., a senior manager at TBS, are the only named plaintiffs though Meachum said 20 to 30 other unnamed current and former Turner employees helped him out with information about their experiences.

“This discrimination represents a company-wide pattern and practice,” the lawsuit asserts, “rather than a series of isolated incidents.” He said the company has been discriminating against blacks for more than 20 years.
The 40-page lawsuit filed in the United States District Court in the Northern District of Georgiasaid blacks – especially black males – are discriminated against in evaluations, compensation and promotions.

Blacks receive “disproportionately lower scores on evaluations,” the lawsuit alleges.

It says based on data provided by Turner, blacks are terminated at a higher rate than whites and promoted at a significantly slower rate. And the lawsuit said written and unwritten policies and practices for performing evaluations and promotions discriminate against blacks. Those policies “allow supervisors to essentially handpick candidates through word of mouth for available positions and make promotion decisions on the basis of subjective criteria,” the lawsuit said. “This system prevents qualified African-Americans from competing equally for positions or even knowing that they are available.”

Meachum said at a press conference Wednesday morning at his downtown Atlanta office that he has been collecting information about CNN and Turner for three years before filing the class-action suit.

“Upon information and belief,” the suit says, “African-American employees have had to endure racial slurs and prejudicial biases from superiors such as, ‘it’s hard to manage black people’ and ‘who would be worth more: black slaves from times past or new slaves.’ ”

Meachum said he is “outraged as an African American lawyer to have to sit down and go through the facts with people telling what I’ve been told these past three years.”
While blacks make up 30 to 35 percent of CNN’s mid-level managerial and staffing positions, the lawsuit said, “they are drastically under-represented at higher pay grades and senior positions, while still being required to generally labor three times as long as Caucasians [for promotions.].”

And even blacks in the highest positions are not in the more crucial departments, the lawsuit said. In the Media Group Division, the Legal Division and Strategy Division, for instance, not a single black person is represented at the top levels, it said.

Henley, 44 of Fairburn, worked at CNN for seven years as an executive administrative assistant. She alleged that she was mistreated in the workforce based on race, sex and pregnancy. She said she worked far longer hours than her white counterparts.

And she said she was treated significantly worse after coming back from maternity leave. She said she was fired as retaliation for complaining to HR in early 2014.

Colbert, 44, of Ellenwood, has worked at TBS for almost 20 years. He claimed in the lawsuit that he was consistently paid below grade level compared to comparable white employees.

He also said he failed to receive a proper job description for nine years and was given senior-level managerial work without being properly compensated.

He was promoted in August, 2016 to senior manager but said he is still underpaid compared to his white counterparts with comparable jobs. “Additionally, years of Mr. Colbert’s positive performance evaluations have been nullified due to TBS’s failure to maintain Mr. Colbert’s personnel file,” the lawsuit said.

In the lawsuit, Colbert said he repeatedly requested to be promoted to a higher pay grade. A white person who had held his position previously was promoted to a job grade several levels above Colbert’s while performing the same job duties, he said.

The class action covers all blacks employed in salaried and mid-level managerial positions in the United States at any time between April, 1997 to the present.

“I’ve seen people at Turner that have worked there for 14, 15 years with a total raise over that time of $5,000 to $6,000. That’s horrible,” Meachum said. “That is not the face that I think Turner and CNN wants to put on. That’s the reality of the people who work there.”

At least three others have filed individual lawsuits against CNN over the past three years.

In October, 2014, a field producer in Los Angeles Stanley Wilson filed a $5 million wrongful termination suit against CNN.
Former CNN writer/producer Ricky Blalock filed a lawsuit in December 2015 over racial discrimination.

He left the company soon after.
In October, 2016, former producer and writer Omar Butcher sued CNN for racial and religious discrimination.

When I asked CNN president Jeff Zucker about the lawsuits last month, he declined to comment. A CNN spokeswoman today declined to comment about the latest lawsuit.

Meachum, who represents Walker, showed up on “Real Housewives of Atlanta” to help out Cynthia Bailey this season with her divorce to Peter Thomas. (She has yet to file. He said they are trying to put the entire divorce together and have it all agreed upon before filing anything.) Meachum also represented actor Wesley Snipesfor many years.

NET NEUTRALITY UPHELD BY FEDERAL COURTS AGAINST CABLE COMPANIES

NET NEUTRALITY UPHELD BY FEDERAL COURTS AGAINST CABLE COMPANIES (GOOGLE FIBER):

Sources: Politico, Youtube

It's Official!

Thanks to a Federal Appeal judge's decision, Pres Obama and some members of Congress, all human beings who reside on American soil will enjoy access to a Free and Open Internet highway.

The Cable company barons have vowed to continue fighting for their legal right to restrict access.

Hello Google FIBER!

***** Court upholds Obama-backed net neutrality rules

A federal appeals court Tuesday upheld a White House-supported effort to make internet service providers treat all web traffic equally, delivering a major defeat to cable and telephone companies.

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 vote, affirmed the FCC's latest net neutrality rules, which consumer groups and President Barack Obama have backed as essential to prevent broadband providers from blocking or degrading internet traffic. 

The telecom industry and Republicans have heavily criticized the rules as burdensome and unnecessary regulation, with Texas Sen. Ted Cruzonce labeling it “Obamacare for the Internet.”

AT&T immediately announced it would appeal the ruling, saying it's always expected the issue to be decided by the Supreme Court. 

Several industry trade groups are expected to join the effort.

The court decision marks a victory for FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, who led the agency’s Democratic majority in approving the rules in February 2015 over the objections of the agency's two GOP commissioners. 

The rules apply utility-style regulation originally written for telephone companies to both land-based and wireless Internet services.

Wheeler on Tuesday celebrated the ruling, calling it a “victory for consumers and innovators who deserve unfettered access to the entire web.”

“It ensures the internet remains a platform for unparalleled innovation, free expression and economic growth,” the FCC chairman said in a statement. “After a decade of debate and legal battles, today’s ruling affirms the Commission’s ability to enforce the strongest possible internet protections — both on fixed and mobile networks — that will ensure the internet remains open, now and in the future.”

Big internet service providers, such as Verizon and Comcast, argued the rules will chill investment in network infrastructure. AT&T and CenturyLink, along with cable, wireless and telecom trade groups, filed the lawsuit to overturn the order.

During oral arguments in December, appeals court judges David Tatel, Sri Srinivasan and Stephen Williams had seemed receptive to the FCC’s decision to ground its net neutrality rules in telephone-style regulation. 

In the majority opinion, written by Tatel and Srinivasan, the judges said the FCC's approach was bolstered by how people view the internet today. 

"These conclusions about consumer perception find extensive support in the record and together justify the Commission’s decision," they wrote.

The majority also let stand the FCC's decision to apply net neutrality rules to the wireless internet, citing the "rapidly growing and virtually universal use of mobile broadband service.” 

That's a critical feature of the rules, since many people today access the web through smartphones.

Williams, the lone dissenter, said he agreed the FCC has the authority to change how it regulates broadband providers, but said the agency didn’t provide enough reasons doing so.

Congressional Democrats cheered the court decision as a win for consumers and free speech, with Bernie Sanders tweeting that it "will help ensure we don't turn over our democracy to the highest bidder." 

Republicans criticized the opinion, and some GOP lawmakers reiterated calls for legislation to undo the FCC's order and create rules that are less burdensome to industry.

"This is why we need to rewrite the Communications Act," Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) said. "There's a better way to protect consumers from blocking and throttling without stifling innovation or delaying build-out. That way requires action by Congress."

But public interest groups involved in the net neutrality battle urged industry and Republicans to give up the fight.

"The people have spoken, the courts have spoken and this should be the last word on net neutrality," Free Press President and CEO Craig Aaron said in a statement.

Republican FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai — who voted against the net neutrality order — said big cable and telecom firms should keep pursuing the case in court.

"I continue to believe that these regulations are unlawful, and I hope that the parties challenging them will continue the legal fight,” Pai said.

The telecom sector has a successful track record in thwarting the FCC’s net neutrality efforts. 

A lawsuit by Verizon scuttled the agency’s previous 2010 Open Internet order.

TRUMP'S BLACK VLOGGERS SILENCED BY DEMOCRATS & GOP ESTABLISHMENT

TRUMP'S BLACK VLOGGERS SILENCED BY DEMOCRATS & GOP ESTABLISHMENT:

ONLY BLACK VLOGGERS WHO SUPPORT DEMOCRATS RECEIVE INTERNET
TRAFFIC.

Sources:  Fox News, Youtube

Is it a coincidence that during the 2016 Presidential election only Black political vloggers who support Hillary Clinton's campaign are receiving a decent amount of Internet traffic?

No it is not a coincidence!

It's not about using a better camera or SEO tricks, it's about Dirty 2016 Politics and limiting Freedom of Speech.

FYI:  Cable conglomerates Comcast and Time Warner are complicit in this political effort to stifle Freedom of Speech.

In the video above I clearly explain how Democrat and GOP Establishment leaders are intentionally trying to silence Black political vloggers who choose to support Donald J Trump's bid for US President.

COMCAST & TIME WARNER FORCE BLACK CUSTOMERS INTO HIGH-PRICED SERVICE BUNDLES

COMCAST & TIME WARNER Cable companies are the two largest television Cable conglomerates in the USA.

COMCAST services the state of GEORGIA.

TIME WARNER services the state of NORTH CAROLINA.

Both companies appear to demonstrate RACIST Business practices (especially COMCAST) of forcing BLACK Customers to pay higher rates than WHITE customers for Service bundles.

This includes charging higher rates for WIFI.

COMCAST even charges different rates to BLACK consumers based on GEORGIA Zip codes.

Both COMCAST & TIMEWARNER are currently being sued for $20 Billion by the National Association of African-American Owned Media for RACIST practices.

I encourage BLACK consumers to contact their members of CONGRESS about these RACIST Business Practices.

I also encourage BLACK consumers to seek other Cable & WIFI Options such as GOOGLE FIBER, Hulu and Netflix.

Sources: Reuters, YouTube

Comcast CEO Endorses Pres. Obama's Health Care Bill

Comcast CEO endorses Senate health bill


The chairman of Comcast endorsed the Senate health care bill in a letter Thursday to President Barack Obama, saying, "We cannot allow perfection to stand in the way of critically needed and very good legislation."

"While there has been much controversy and debate over hundreds of provisions and alternatives, it is my view that the current legislation pending in the Senate provides a workable framework for this country to take an important step toward enhancing health care accessibility, promoting operational efficiencies and technological innovation, and reducing the cost of health care and the federal deficit," CEO and Chairman Brian Roberts wrote.

Roberts said he intended to make his statement in person Thursday at the White House jobs summit but could not make it because of his company's $30 billion merger announcement with NBC Universal.

The White House released the letter.


Sources: Politico, Fortune Mag., Comcast

Comcast Buys NBC: 5 Ways To Save The Network

Andrew Sorkin and the Morning Joe Show panel discuss Comcast's acquistion of NBC. I hope Comcast doesn't mess with Morning Joe show dynamics. I love that program.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

(From an alleged Comcast Customer)

A Comcast technician came to replace a faulty modem. After spending an hour on hold with Comcast's central office, he fell asleep on my couch. I've been in my apartment for three weeks and my internet connection is still non-functional. This is my tribute to Comcast, their low quality technology and their poor customer service.

UPDATE: My service has been restored. A Comcast team spent five hours to get everything up and running. Thanks for all your advice.







5 things Comcast must do to save NBC


Congratulations, Brian Roberts!

You've just bought a $30 billion media conglomerate that includes a legendary movie studio, a huge stake in the potentially revolutionary Hulu and one of the most successful collections of cable programming assets around.

(It's all about cable, Zucker says.)

Unfortunately, you also just inherited the NBC broadcast network.

The once-proud Peacock in recent years has become the poster child for people who believe the network TV business model is just a few heartbeats from extinction.Before today's announcement, more than a few pundits wondered aloud whether you might simply chuck NBC altogether.

But let's assume you're not ready to give up on the notion of broadcasting. Let's imagine you still think there's value in owning a brand with 70 years of history and entry into just about every home in America.

If that's the case, there's no reason NBC couldn't yet find salvation.

Here are five suggestions for how to bring the network back from the brink:



1.) Part ways with Jeff Zucker -- or at least ban him from any oversight of the network.


Business historians will ultimately decide if Zucker was a good steward of the overall conglomerate known as NBC Universal. This much is true: Take out the performance of the broadcast network, and Zucker's tenure at the Peacock has seen plenty of successes (and profits).

There's a reason he's risen so high in the GE culture:

Zucker knows how to make money. And while he didn't put Bonnie Hammer in charge of cable giants USA and Syfy, he wisely left her alone to expand her previous success (and tapped the awe-inspiring Lauren Zalaznick to transform Bravo into a powerhouse in its own right).

But this story is about what can be done to save the NBC television network. And quite simply, Zucker has done far more harm than good to that part of the business.

He needs to be taken out of the NBC Entertainment equation.

The problem began when then-NBC chief Bob Wright shipped Zucker from New York to Burbank and put him in charge of programming. It was a move not unlike Disney's decision two decades ago to install a young Bob Iger at ABC Entertainment: You want your future leaders to understand the ins and outs of your core business.

But Iger wisely relied on the talents of programming deputies Ted Harbert and Stu Bloomberg, empowering them to run the day-to-day of the network. Peter Rice, another CEO-in-training, appears to be on a similar track at Fox right now.

Not Zucker. He didn't get Hollywood, and Hollywood didn't like him.

Not trusting any of his subordinates, Zucker micromanaged and second-guessed at every turn early on during his tenure. He extended the Peacock's ratings supremacy in the short term-- keeping "Friends" on the air two more seasons was a huge deal-- but did nothing to build any new long-term franchises.

Things didn't get better when Zucker moved back to New York. He wisely hired the talented Kevin Reilly to run development, but never empowered him to completely run the network.

Zucker finally appeared ready to cut the apron strings when Ben Silverman arrived. Unfortunately, while Zucker thought he was hiring Silverman to develop hits, Silverman was never interested in being a mere D-boy. It was an epic miscommunication, one that extended NBC's losing streak another two years.

As many talents as Zucker possesses -- he's super-smart, forward-thinking, quirkily charismatic and unafraid to take risks at a time of monumental change in the entertainment business -- being responsible for the revival of a broadcast network just doesn't suit him.

It's hard to see how Zucker could stay on as CEO of the new company and yet somehow not have any say in the direction of NBC Entertainment. But if Comcast really thinks Zucker's skills elsewhere in the company are worth keeping him, it should find a way to let someone else (Jeff Gaspin?) oversee the network.


2.) Don't make any hard and fast rules.

The last decade at NBC has been marked by a series of epic pronouncements from on high about the future of television: Reality shows and newsmagazines must air at 8! Dramas at 10 don't work! Cable is the future! No more dark and depressing shows -- viewers only want "blue sky" programming!

The only thing these mandates have accomplished is to create artificial boxes for NBC's West Coast executives, who too often have found themselves developing in an effort to live up to some bogus corporate mandate.

NBC needs to stop trying to fashion itself as some radical reformer of the broadcasting business and should instead get back to its basic mission: entertaining viewers with the best possible programming.



3.) Become the HBO of broadcast TV.

Toward that end, NBC should -- without actually ever saying so -- do all it can to transform itself into a network of ambitious, extraordinary and critically worshipped programs.

You know, the sort of stuff HBO does every day.

Making a move toward super-quality would immediately reconnect NBC with its 1980s and '90s brand, when it was known mainly as the home of "Must-See TV" and the best shows on television. Even if ratings didn't immediately soar, NBC's sales teams could sell Madison Avenue on the upscale eyeballs first-rate programming tends to attract.

We're not suggesting you go all artsy-fartsy.

HBO (and, to a far lesser degree, Showtime) has proven that quality and populism can co-exist: Critics have raved about "True Blood" and "Dexter," even as both shows have inspired sizable (and passionate) fan bases.

And NBC's biggest success story in the past five years? Not "Heroes," which faded fast. Nope, it's "The Office" -- the little comedy that spent its first year struggling to find a pulse.

The strategy of Quality First might not have made sense a decade ago, when hit shows regularly drew more than 20 million or 25 million viewers. But in an era when a mid-3 rating in the key demographic is considered reason for celebration, NBC doesn't need to worry that it's passing up big numbers by defining its brand as first-class all the way.



4.) Move Jay Leno to 8 p.m. -- or move on.

Despite the fierce whining from writers and agents, the problem with NBC's grand Leno experiment wasn't the decision to eliminate five hours of scripted programming. No, that actually made sense -- especially for a network that has trouble slotting even a dozen worthwhile hours of TV each week.

And installing Conan O'Brien as successor to Leno on "Tonight"? Also smart: Dave and Jay won't be around forever, and when they're gone, NBC will have the biggest star in late night.

The problem with Leno is that he rejected NBC's initial idea, which was to have his primetime show kick off the night at 8 p.m.

It's still too soon to make a definitive statement about Leno's primetime performance. But The Chin's weak ratings are clearly hurting local newscasts and, worse, deny O'Brien any chance at success (CBS' 10 p.m. shows give David Letterman three times as many viewers as a lead-in and promotional base).

In addition, the lack of a 10 p.m. timeslot means NBC has just five hours per week to do serious, groundbreaking drama. Right now, that's not really a problem, but if the network starts a creative rebound, it soon would be.

So why not move Jay to 8 and make him the ringmaster of a big, funny variety show -- an Ed Sullivan for our times?

Why not introduce some reality show concepts as regular features, much the way Oprah Winfrey shamelessly apes "American Idol" with her annual singing competitions?

If Leno objects, NBC should simply break up with him. Even if it means eating the cost of his contract, Leno at 10 p.m. just isn't a long-term play for the Peacock.


5.) Think like a loser, spend like a drunken sailor -- and expect recovery to take a while.

One of Zucker's fatal flaws as an overseer of NBC has been his legendary impatience (and short attention span). The man who cut his teeth in the fast-paced world of morning news could never understand that you can't turn around a broadcast network overnight.

Comcast needs to accept and embrace this go-slow reality if it truly wants to rehabilitate NBC.

Leslie Moonves took nearly five years to turn CBS into the frighteningly efficient ratings machine it is today. Steve McPherson had some success at ABC right out of the gate, but five years later, he's still trying to recover from the mess he inherited.

There's simply no quick path back to ratings glory. Networks are built show by show.

The Moonves and McPherson models also demand network chiefs act as if they have nothing to lose. And, perhaps, an unlimited amount of cash to spend.

Devoting millions of dollars to "Survivor" and "Big Brother" in the summer of 2000 probably struck most of Moonves' peers at the time as a bit, well, desperate. Both shows now are part of CBS' very foundation.

Moonves also was painted as a fool by many for shelling out crazy cash to convince Bill Cosby to return to the sitcom format. The show was never a megahit, but it brought buzz and viewers back to a network that seemed to be on the verge of collapse.

Likewise, it takes guts to schedule four new comedies on one night -- but McPherson did just that this fall. So far, so good.

NBC in recent years has been all about maximizing profits and minimizing creative risk-taking. It was a philosophy that fit well for a network wholly owned by GE.

But the GE days will soon be over. In order to bring NBC back from the brink, Comcast needs to be willing to commit the time and money to doing the job right. It needs to pick a leader for the network it trusts and then give her or him plenty of time to turn things around.

Otherwise, Comcast might as well just pull the plug and let the Peacock die with dignity.



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Sources: The Wrap, MSNBC, Money Central, Morning Joe Show, Comcast, NBC, Wikipedia, Youtube, Google Maps