Indiana Parley notes a Duluth News-Tribune story about Granite Broadcasting, which owns NBC33 and operates 21Alive. From the article:
It's a telling development when a firm named Harbert Distressed Investment Master Fund starts buying up a corporation's stock.
Lately, Harbert has taken an increasingly active role in the affairs of Granite Broadcasting Corp., owner of KBJR-TV, Duluth's NBC affiliate.
Granite repeatedly failed to make dividend payments to Harbert and other holders of its preferred stock, and this week, those investors flexed their collective muscle.
Harbert joined forces with the John Hancock High Yield Fund and Somerset Capital Advisers to form a block of shareholders controlling a majority share of preferred stock in Granite. Together, they asserted their right Tuesday to appoint two members to Granite's board of directors.
"We are very concerned about the direction of Granite," Philip A. Falcone, Harbert's senior portfolio manager, said in a prepared statement.
[...]On Wednesday, Granite publicly acknowledged the legitimacy of Davis' and Aubry's appointment to the board of directors, which now will have 12 members.
In statement issued by Granite CEO W. Don Cornwell, he said:
"We welcome (Messrs) Davis and Aubry to the company and look forward to them joining the board. We continue to see improvements in our operating performance as we execute on our strategic business plan and look forward to updating you on our progress when we report third quarter results on Nov. 10."
Through a spokeswoman, Cornwell declined comment to the News Tribune on Thursday.
But Granite does appear to be straightening house. In late September, the company brought in a consultant, Kevin O'Brien, to help strategize for the future.
Speaking of O'Brien, here's what the Nashville Scene reported when he was hired by Granite:
Kevin O’Brien, the widely despised former head of broadcasting at Meredith Corp., who was fired last year after the company accused him of discrimination and sexual harassment, has landed a consulting gig with Granite Broadcasting Corp., which includes WB stations. The AP recently reported that a company memo O’Brien wrote for Meredith urged against hiring blacks and disparaged Jews and an Indian colleague.
WB programming intentionally targets racial and ethnic viewers, so O’Brien, whose tyrannical reign hit Channel 4 hard in the way of morale and staff defections, is an odd choice. “It’s the last place you’d want a racist running things,” says one local TV source.
The Des Moines Register has more on O'Brien's firing, and the subsequent legal battle:
Meredith fired O'Brien on Oct. 29, saying he had violated the company's equal opportunity employment policy.
The company sued him Nov. 12, asking a federal judge in Des Moines to affirm its decision to fire O'Brien. In a court document, Meredith accused O'Brien of racial discrimination and sexual harassment.
The document said an independent investigation found that O'Brien made racist statements, including "We can't right all the wrongs of the Civil War; we've got to quit hiring all these black people."
He was also accused of threatening to terminate workers if they reported complaints to Meredith of- ficials.
After the comments became public, the National Association of Black Journalists called on Meredith to make amends to journalists whose careers were affected by O'Brien's conduct.
O'Brien had challenged the accusations and claimed the company fired him without cause.
BACKFILL: In March, Richard Prince wrote a column for the Maynard Institute detailing O'Brien's behavior.
UPDATE: The O'Brien info appeared previously on Indiana Parley
Comments
In order to leave a comment, you must also leave your full name and a working email address in the event Fort Wayne Observed contacts you for confirmation. You may request that your email address not be published when your comment is posted.
Anonymous comments or those that include coarse language or personal attacks will not be tolerated.