Nexstar seeks to depose fired WOOD-TV news director Stanton Tang
Attorneys for the broadcast say they’ve engaged in a back-and-forth with Tang’s lawyers on the matter.
Stanton Tang is the former news director of Grand Rapids, Michigan NBC affiliate WOOD-TV (Channel 8).
Attorneys for the broadcast say they’ve engaged in a back-and-forth with Tang’s lawyers on the matter.
The federal judge overseeing the case against the broadcaster said the former news managers have “cleared the plausibility hurdle.”
Stanton Tang is fighting a request to have his defamation lawsuit tossed out of court, saying an edict to circulate a memo about his station’s Pride Month coverage last year was within the scope of his job.
Stanton Tang and Amy Fox sued about a year after their firings, claiming Nexstar defamed them in statements about their Pride Month memo.
The executives, Stanton Tang and Amy Fox, were fired last year for a memo that encouraged employees to pull back on Pride Month coverage.
Stanton Tang has joined religious-oriented WCSG Radio after being fired by WOOD-TV for orchestrating a controversial memo earlier this year.
Nexstar Media has fired a Michigan television news director who orchestrated an anti-gay memo circulated among employees in June.
Exclusive: Nexstar’s SVP of Local Content Development Susan Tully said journalists at WOOD-TV responded inappropriately to an anti-gay memo written by their boss.
Exclusive: Employees said they viewed a memo written by Stanton Tang as an intimidation tactic meant to limit their participation in last year’s primary election.
Exclusive: Allegations of workplace harassment, bullying and mismanagement often went ignored, even when they were well-documented, according to numerous people.
Journalists at Nexstar-owned WOOD-TV say the newsroom executive has contributed to a hostile work environment since he joined in 2021.
Journalists say they are not following a directive to curb their coverage of Pride Month events; the station’s parent company has launched an investigation.