TV & VIDEO - June 15, 1989

A Canadian TV news reader in Vancouver has filed a complaint of age discrimination with human rights authorities after losing out on an anchor job to a woman who has no anchor experience and is 16 years her junior. Leila Paul, 43, a weekend news anchor, was seeking a week-night anchor spot with the local Canadian Broadcasting Corp. station. The job went to Gloria Macarenko, the station’s backup weather announcer who is a former beauty queen with radio but no television news experience. CBC executive producer Graham Ritchie said age had nothing to do with hiring Macarenko, a former Miss Pacific National Exhibition. Macarenko, he said, worked as a radio reporter for several years, has considerable life experience and clearly has “incredible potential” as an anchor.