Lawyers representing two fired Nexstar Media Group news directors are scheduled to depose a CNN journalist about his online communications with the chief communications executive of the local television broadcaster.
The journalist, Liam Reilly, is one of two known individuals who will be questioned as part of the defamation and wrongful termination lawsuit filed by the former news directors of WOOD-TV (Channel 8), Stanton Tang and Amy Fox.
Tang was named as the orchestrator of a newsroom-wide memo that urged reporters at the TV station to curb their coverage of Pride Month events in 2023. Fox wrote and sent the memo at Tang’s direction; in the letter, she noted that the TV station covered an area of Michigan that is politically conservative.
After an internal investigation, both were fired, with Nexstar citing a violation of company policy. Two newsroom employees were also fired on suspicion of leaking the memo. The Desk was the first to publicly report the content of the memo, and the first to report on the firings.
Before the firings, Reilly was the first to receive a public statement from Nexstar, which was issued by the company’s long-time communications chief, Gary Weitman.
“We’re looking into the situation at WOOD-TV, as the communication regarding the station’s coverage of Pride Month activities in the area is not consistent with Nexstar’s values, the way we cover the news, or the respect we have for our viewers,” Weitman said in a statement, which CNN attributed to the company itself.
Weitman apologized on behalf of Nexstar “for offending members of the LGBTQ community and WOOD-TV’s viewers,” and said the broadcaster would “take appropriate action as necessary to address this situation.”
Last June, Tang and Fox filed separate but related defamation lawsuits, alleging they were merely following the company’s policy to present balanced news coverage and that the company threw them under the bus to save face with the public. Months later, a judge rejected a request by Nexstar to have the case tossed out of court, clearing the way for a possible jury trial.
On Tuesday, attorneys representing Fox and Tang affirmed discussions with Nexstar to have the case proceed to “facilitative mediation”, which could open the door to a settlement. Before that happens, lawyers for the fired news directors say at least three depositions need to occur.
One of those depositions involves Reilly, who was served a notice earlier this month. The interrogation would focus on his communications with Weitman, which were provided by Nexstar through the discovery process.
Reilly and CNN are not parties to the lawsuit, and the lawyers say his “limited deposition” should be completed next month. It wasn’t clear if Reilly intends to comply with the deposition. A spokesperson for CNN declined to comment. Reilly and Weitman did not return requests for comment.
The second deposition would involve the interrogation of Terri Bush, the Senior Vice President of Human Resources and an Associate General Counsel at Nexstar. Before that deposition can take place, a judge must first ruling on whether certain documents sought by Tang and Fox can be classified as “legally privileged” and withheld from the plaintiffs accordingly. The deposition will take place after that hearing, the lawyers said.
The third notice of deposition was sent to Nexstar itself, pursuant to a federal rule that allows corporations to be deposed and which requires them to name a representative. No representative for Nexstar was identified in court records reviewed by The Desk, and the third deposition may not happen if both sides agree to certain facts that can be raised if a trial takes place.
The mediation process will move forward once all three depositions are completed, or once the first two are finished if the third isn’t necessary. Attorneys for Fox and Tang said the mediation process should be finished by the end of August.
