A former Emmy-award-winning, Boston-area CBS affiliate news station anchor has alleged she was demoted because of the network’s DEI agenda.
The allegation is contained in a lawsuit filed on Aug. 4 by longtime anchor Katherine Merrill Dunham against station WBZ’s corporate parents, CBS and Paramount Global.
The lawsuit accuses officials of having purposefully driven her out of the newsroom to meet certain “diversity” quotas.
“Merrill allege[s] [in the suit that] she was targeted by managers who said the morning show was ‘too white’ and by co-workers who filed ‘malicious’ race-based complaints against her,” according to the New York Post.
Boston TV news anchor claims she lost gig because she’s white — blames CBS’ ‘DEI agenda’ | Ariel Zilber, New York Post
A TV anchor at a local CBS station in Boston claims she was demoted from her job because she is a white woman — and alleged she fell victim to a “DEI agenda”… pic.twitter.com/6VcaDoLBGc
— Owen Gregorian (@OwenGregorian) August 19, 2025
The lawsuit comes two months after Merrill, reportedly the wife of New York Rangers goalie Mike Dunham, stunned viewers by suddenly quitting the show without explaining why.
“Kate has decided to move on from WBZ,” the station told the Boston Globe at the time. “Thanks for the inquiry. We value our loyal viewers.”
“No explanation was given for Merrill’s departure,” the Globe reported. “Her biography has been removed from WBZ’s list of reporters.”
The profile used to read as follows: “She has covered every big story in Boston, from the 2013 Marathon bombings, and the 2004 Democratic National Convention, to the 2004 Red Sox World Series win and several Patriots Super Bowls, live from the field.”
The problems for Merrill began after CBS and Paramount reportedly rolled out diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) mandates in response to a race scandal involving past allegations of racism by CBS and crew.
“Executives allegedly described WBZ as ‘the whitest of all their stations’ and vowed to allow only minority hires,” the Post notes, citing Merrill’s lawsuit.
“WBZ-TV exploited such policies and took career-ending action against Ms. Merrill to advance a DEI agenda,” the lawsuit itself reads.
Former news anchor sues CBS owned @wbznewsradio for $4M claiming she was discriminated against for being White.
Katei Merrill was accused of committing “microaggressions” and displaying “unconscious bias”
In response to her alleged actions, Merrill was given a “career ending”… pic.twitter.com/fPV7bTs5jb
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) August 6, 2025
Things hit the fan when, after joining the team, black meteorologist Jason Mikell “made an inappropriate sexual innuendo” about Merrill in February of last year.
According to the suit, he “implied that Ms. Merrill and her co-anchor had sexual relations at a gazebo.”
Furthermore, Mikell was never formally “disciplined for his sexually charged remark about Ms Merrill.”
Weeks later, Merrill sent Mikell a text message reportedly correcting his mispronunciation of a word. This inspired an outburst during which Mikell “loudly yelled at her on the studio floor.”
She responded by filing a complaint with human resources, only to discover that Mikell had accused her of racial bias.
Then on May 27, 2024, top Paramount official Michael Roderick, the vice president of employee relations, issued a report accusing Merrill of having engaged in “microaggressions or unconscious bias.”
WBZ president and general manager Justin Draper subsequently ordered her to attend so-called “unconscious bias training” and threatened to fire her if she messed up again.
The next day, Draper announced that she was being demoted from anchoring the morning news to working the weekend shift.
“Demoting Ms. Merrill in the context of the investigation sent the false message to her professional colleagues that she had engaged in serious wrongdoing,” her lawsuit reads.
Her union subsequently told her that the demotion was “career sabotage” — the type that she would “never recover” from.
Merill resigned days later.
Her lawsuit also complains about how other minorities besides Mikell got away with much worse without ever facing any discipline.
“The suit alleged male and minority colleagues were spared similar punishment for misconduct,” the Post notes. “It cites Mikell’s innuendo and an incident in which a black reporter allegedly “physically threw” a co-worker against a wall. None were demoted, according to the filing.”
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V. Saxena is a staff writer for BizPac Review with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University.
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