News Anchor’s Remarks Prompt Diversity Class

Memos from KCBS-TV Channel 2 news anchor Michael Tuck and station management apologizing for what many staffers felt were offensive and insensitive comments from Tuck about a Cuban American news writer have stirred up a sea of emotions within the “Action News” newsroom.

Several members of the staff said they were taken aback by the apology, which was issued Wednesday, and which stemmed from an incident last June in which Tuck became upset by a script during a newscast.

Tuck made an outburst in which staffers said he referred to the news scriptwriter as having less than adequate English skills, saying that she only knew “English as a second language.” The remarks were made during a commercial break, and while it was heard by several staffers, it was not broadcast over the air.

Station executives, who said they had only been made aware of Tuck’s comments this week, said they considered them insensitive and inappropriate, but not racist.

“In investigating the incident, I believe that Michael’s statement was made solely in anger about the quality of that day’s broadcast script and its accountability,” General Manager John Culliton wrote in a memo to the staff. “Even so, his words could have been interpreted by some of those present as a slur against the ethnicity of the employee in question.”

In a separate statement, Tuck said: “Whatever criticism I might get from my colleagues and my company won’t approach the blame I’ve directed at myself over this situation. . . . I apologize to anyone who might have interpreted my words as an insult or an endorsement of an environment in which none of us wants to work.”

The writer could not be reached for comment. Sources said she was recently terminated for reasons unrelated to the summer incident.

Culliton said in his memo that to “prevent further situations similar to this, I am requiring that all KCBS-TV employees attend a workshop on diversity awareness that will also review Company policies. This management is committed to a workplace that represents all the cultures, races, genders and sexual orientations that make up our community, and assures everyone that KCBS-TV will prohibit any bias against them.”

Some in the newsroom praised Tuck and Culliton for the memos, saying the station was acting responsibly in handling a delicate situation.

But others said they were unhappy that the entire staff was being forced to take the diversity training, saying they were being penalized for Tuck’s actions. Still others said that they felt Tuck should have been disciplined.

“It’s like when your kid goes across the street to beat up another kid, and the whole class has to stay after school because of it,” said one KCBS employee.

In his memo, Tuck wrote, “The pressures of a newscast and our personal demands for the highest level of effort from colleagues occasionally result in angry or frustrated words. While that was the cause of my comments, it doesn’t excuse what might have been their potential result: having any co-worker think that I was making an offensive remark when no such slight was intended. The possibility of my words being understood in that manner hurts me deeply and violates my own personal standards.”

In an interview Friday, Tuck said, “I feel genuinely terrible. I chose some words very clumsily. It doesn’t reflect the way I’ve lived all my life. I hope this doesn’t offend people I care about.”

As to the varying reactions in the newsroom, Tuck said, “I’ve received sympathy from people who know me. They know this has taken a toll on me. Of all the dumb things a person could say, this is near the top.”

Some in the newsroom blasted Tuck, saying he had often made outbursts against newsroom staffers. But others defended the veteran newsman, saying the news writer, who had been hired from a Spanish-language station in Miami, Fla., was inexperienced.

Culliton and other KCBS officials declined comment.