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Christine Craft Biography
Christine Craft (Ann) is an attorney, radio talk show host and former television news anchor. She became known in the broadcast industry in the 1980s for her age and sexual discrimination lawsuit against a television station that had demoted her from news anchor to reporter.
In the fall of 2007, after failing to achieve a fresh contract agreement with the station manager, Craft left her hosting responsibilities at KSAC in Sacramento. Craft is currently a fill-in talk radio host at KGO in San Francisco and practices workers ‘ compensation and labor law at Farrell, Fraulob and Brown’s law offices in Sacramento.
She also conducts a pro-bono job in the field of animal violence and argues against such offenses for stronger laws. She has lectured on Title VII litigation (the Civil Rights Act of 1964) and her media experiences at colleges, universities and law schools. Her story was featured in an exhibit at the Newseum, an interactive news and journalism museum in Washington, D.C.
Christine Craft Age
Craft was born in San Marino, California, in 1944. After graduating from college with an English degree in 1966, she spent time in the Santa Barbara area as a teacher in the classroom and a competitive surfer.
Christine Craft Married | Husband
Christine Craft TV career
Craft took a position at KSBW-TV in Salinas, California, as a weather journalist in 1974. She served in a multitude of reporting positions while working for KSBW, including news and sports. She then shifted from KSBW to San Francisco’s CBS affiliate, KPIX-TV, where she continued to work as a reporter “all around.”
In 1977, CBS recruited Craft to do the weekly “Women in Sports” section for the CBS Sports Spectacular. As part of her on-air reporting, CBS needed her to undergo a make-up that included her hair bleached platinum blonde; Craft later said she hated the experience. Craft returned to California after a year at CBS, where she worked again in several news roles, including a stint as co-anchor for Santa Barbara’s ABC affiliate, KEYT-TV.
Craft moved to Kansas City to work for the then-Metromedia-owned ABC affiliate, KMBC-TV, for several years with KEYT. Craft argues that a media consulting firm, unknown to her, created a tape of her and had it shopped at several stations across the nation, including KMBC.
KMBC managers asked Craft to come to Kansas City for an interview as a consequence of this exposure; she was employed after the interview. Craft says that she told the station management at the moment of her recruitment that she “showed indications of her era and experience” and that she was not prepared to be “made over” again after the experience with CBS.
Christine Craft Anchor
Christine Craft, who sued a television station in Kansas City in 1982, claiming that she had been demoted by her appearance as a co-anchor, is again an anchorwoman. At KBRK-TV in Sacramento, she was recruited to co-anchor a weekly news program.
“I’m very much a follower of political events and I can’t imagine a better location than Sacramento,” Craft said to a news conference called by the tiny independent station in the state capital on Thursday that she will begin working for in January.
Craft prosecuted KMBC-TV station in Kansas City, Mo., and its owner at the time, Metromedia Inc., for fraud and sexual discrimination. In 1983, a federal court jury granted her $500,000 on the charge of fraud and suggested that Metromedia be found guilty of sex discrimination.
Judge president Joseph E. Stevens threw out the judgment and discovered that Craft was not the victim of discrimination on the grounds of sex. On the claim for fraud, a fresh trial was ordered. Craft received a total of $325,000 in damages in 1984 from a second jury.
Christine Craft Lawsuit
Craft became co-anchor with Scott Feldman at 6 p.m. in January 1981. And at ten o’clock. KMBC-TV newscast. After Craft was added to the news program, the newscasts of the station went from third to first in the ratings. In August 1981, eight months into her two-year agreement, Craft was removed from the anchor role after a focus group had determined that she was “too ancient, too unattractive, and wouldn’t defer to men.
At that time, in a network affiliate in the United States, there was only one female over the age of forty anchoring a newscast. Craft refused to acknowledge the demotion and went public through an interview in a local journal with her disagreement with the station. She left KMBC and returned to Santa Barbara for television.
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Craft lodged a Title VII lawsuit against Metromedia while operating in Santa Barbara, and a federal jury in Kansas City awarded her $500,000 in damages in 1983. In Joplin, Missouri, a federal judge reversed the prize and ordered a second trial. Her $500,000 was also granted by the second panel. Metromedia appealed and subsequently, the judgment was reversed by the 8th Circuit Court.
Craft’s appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court of that judgment was rejected, although Sandra Day O’Connor, Supreme Court Judge, wrote in favor of hearing the case. Several references to employment law include her case as an instance of Title VII discrimination lawsuits.
Christine Craft Authorship, law school, and talk-radio
She released her book “Too Old, Too Ugly, Not Deferential to Men” in 1986. Craft continued to do television, anchoring the news at KRBK in Sacramento, where she was also editor-in-chief and continued to do television programs for KQED from San Francisco.
Craft then went to law college, graduating from McGeorge Law School at the University of the Pacific in 1995, passing the same year’s California Bar exam. It was when Craft first began working in talk-radio during her law school studies, hosting a program at KFBK in Sacramento.
Christine Craft Net Worth
No clear evident on her total earnings, Her estimated net worth is under review,
Christine Craft Reporter
Christine Craft wanted to be a journalist, and it looked like she couldn’t be stopped last month. She might have to settle for being a symbol now, though. At least for a while. A jury last month suggested that Miss Craft, 38, be granted $500,000 in damages from Metromedia Inc., the former owners of KMBC television station in Kansas City, Mo., who dropped her in 1981 as an anchor. Her successful lawsuit maintained that station authorities recruited her as a journalist and then demoted her as being” too old, unattractive and not sufficiently deferential to males.”
She returned to her work as co-anchor for KEYT-TV in the trial over. Before she went to work for KMBC-TV, Miss Craft was a co-anchor at KEYT and returned to the station after she left KMBC in 1981. I want to go out and do stories on the road,” she said after the trial. I am junkie news.”
A jury last month suggested that Miss Craft, 38, be granted $500,000 in damages from Metromedia Inc., the former owners of KMBC television station in Kansas City, Mo., who dropped her in 1981 as an anchor. Her successful lawsuit maintained that station officials hired her as a journalist and then demoted her as being” too old, unattractive and not sufficiently deferential to men.”
Former KCTV-5 Anchor’s Age Discrimination Lawsuit Can Proceed, Judge Rules
Karen Fuller‘s age and gender discrimination lawsuit against the station may move forward former KCTV Channel 5 anchor, ruled by a federal judge this week. U.S. District Judge John Lungstrum found that Fuller had created enough proof that she had been fired because of her age or gender, and rejected KCTV’s offer to reject the case.
From 2003 to 2015, when she was abruptly let go, Fuller was a news anchor at KCTV. At the moment, she was 47 and her lawsuit alleges that Meredith Corp., the owner of the station, developed an “age cap” for her female anchors, but not for her male anchors. Due to bad on-air and off-air results, KCTV said it let her go. However, Lungstrum discovered that the proof of Fuller, viewed in the most favorable light, “produces a sensible inference that the reasons given by the defendant are pretextual.”
Lungstrum observed that Fuller’s contract had been repeatedly renewed, her prior performance assessments had been positive, and she was permitted to anchor during the key sweeping period of February, even after KCTV executives chose to fire her.
As proof they were looking for a younger anchor to replace Fuller, he also quoted comments made by KCTV executives. After watching a video of Ellen McNamara’s job, who was eventually recruited to replace Fuller, the news director said, “She has a good ‘ hometown girl ‘ look from Midwestern.”
And the creative director of the station said about the appearance of McNamara: “She can be sweet and young, but she can also dress up and be more severe and respectable… How do I wonder about her era?”Fuller, now a KGAN anchor, a CBS affiliate in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, declined to comment on her lawyer’s recommendation, R. Smith Peter.
