Emmy-Winning NYC News Reporter Says She Was 'Pushed Aside Because I Am a 61-Year-Old Woman'

NY1’s Roma Torre has been working in television for 30 years, a career that’s earned her two Emmys, one just this year, but Torre says she’s currently being forced out of her job due to age and appearance.

In a piece for Fast Company, Torre writes that she and some of her women colleagues began seeing less opportunity and airtime after Charter Communications acquired NY1 in 2016:

“While others were benefitting from increased opportunities and airtime, my profile was shrinking. I soon realized that I was not alone. My colleagues Kristen Shaughnessy, Jeanine Ramirez, Vivian Lee, and Amanda Farinacci, who have each been at NY1 with me for anywhere from 11 to 25 years, were also on the outside looking in. We all lost airtime, we all lost opportunities, we were all being treated differently. We all have something else in common: We are all older women.”

Torre says that she, along with others, filed age discrimination complaints that were quickly dismissed by HR, with her supervisor at one point telling her, “That’s just the way it is. Too bad. Boo hoo” in response to her grievances.

In June 2019, Torre and her co-workers filed an age and gender discrimination lawsuit against Charter. Since filing, she says they “have been inundated with messages of support from colleagues and viewers, many of whom were under the mistaken impression that we had been on air less because we decided to ‘slow down.’”

“We want everyone to know that these decisions were made for us, not by us,” Torre added.