A Rare Second-Day Post: Tampa Tribune Sued for Age Discrimination; Idol Return Scores 37-million Viewers

There's so much news today, I had to post twice.

First, former WTSP-Ch. 10 anchor and Tampa Tribune editor Milton "Pat" Minarcin has filed an age discrmination lawsuit against his former employers at the Tribune, alleging they demoted him in 2005 becuase he was too old and fired him when he complined to federal authorities.

According to Minarcin's lawsuit, filed Tuesday in federal court:

-- He was demoted from a job as special projects editor at the Tribune in July 2005 and told to accept a lesser editing position with a salary smaller than his $97,366 pay (Minarcin, who according to Times files made about $195,000 annually when he left WTSP in 1998, started at the Tribune as an editor in 1999 making $55,055 annually)

-- He was given the busy work of revising the Tribune's ethics policy and developing standardized testing for editors candidates after his demotion.

-- He filed an age discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission after noting three major editing jobs he was interested in were instead given to candidates Minarcin says were younger.

-- He was, at age 60, one of only three employees at the Tribune in their 60s. He also says just 20 percent of the Tribune's staff is over age 50, and three other employees in their 50s were let go during that year.

-- Six days after filing his EEOC complaint, he was offered an $18,000 settlement to drop the complaint and then fired.

Of course, allegations in lawsuits are just one side of the story. Media General and editors at the Tribune surely have another, although Tribune editor Janet Weaver and Media General failed to comment for their newspaper's own initial online version of the story.

Minarcin won nearly $300,000 in an arbitration decision over a similar lawsuit in 2002 against WTSP. His marriage to WTSP weekend anchor Jennifer Howe ended recently.

American Idol Busts Ratings Records

The return Tuesday of American Idol set viewership records for the year, attracting 37-million viewers to its two-hour premiere on Fox TV.

Those numbers were the largest premiere ratings in Idol history — and the second-largest total viewership for a Fox program ever — a 4 percent increase from last year. The show also proved the highest-rated show of the current 2006-07 TV season so far in total viewers, teen viewers and viewers aged 18 to 49.

Locally, the numbers were equally significant, with Tampa Fox affiliate WTVT-Ch. 13 drawing more than 370,000 area households, according to ratings from Nielsen Media Research provided by WTVT. Drawing 28 percent of everyone watching TV locally from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday, Idol’s debut attracted more viewership in the Tampa Bay area than competing shows on ABC, NBC and CBS affiliates combined.

Comments

[Eric Deggans]

I agree, it is sad to see what becomes of many folks at the end of their journalism careers -- especially in the high-stakes world of TV.

When I first took over as TV critic in 1997, Pat was the only local anchor who sat me down at lunch and spent time explaining the local scene to me from his perspective. He was always an interesting guy -- a little tightly-wound, I thought -- but seemed to really care about good journalism and how to bring it to television.

Unfortunately, after filing his second age-discrimination lawsuit in 10 years, I think he's going to have a tough time convincing another employer to hire him again.

Perhaps he could put his multimedia experience to work creating the kickbutt local news Web site we all know should and could exist in this market...

[dreaming]

this'll be a fun battle to watch. everyone's gotta be rooting for minarcin. you'd like to see media general take a stiff one in the chins. theyve got some powerful legal armor, though. still, they could afford a nice settlement, especially since wfla shoveled in, what, about 50 gazillion in profit last year? if it ever gets to a jury, you just know the little guys would stick it to the corporate suits....

[Jim]

I really feel sorry for Mr. Minarcin. I do not know him personally, but I am familiar with his work in television and print. He has done some outstanding journalism, from his investigative work in Cincinnati to right here in the Bay Area at Channel 10 and the Tribune. Whatever happened, I hope he is able to get back to doing what he most enjoys.