Joan Lunden is reporting on her own story.<\/p>\n
In her 11th book, \u201cJoan: Life Beyond the Script,\u201d out Tuesday, Lunden reveals that her former boss at New York\u2019s WABC-TV \u201cEyewitness News\u201d propositioned her, then retaliated against her after she denied his advances. Lunden joined \u201cEyewitness News\u201d in 1975, anchoring their weekend news segment. <\/p>\n
Lunden\u2019s colleague, whom she refers to as \u201cTed\u201d in the book, would help her edit stories. Ted invited her to Fire Island under the guise of a work get-together. <\/p>\n
\u201c\u2018You should come along, Joan,\u2019 said Ted. \u2018It will be a good opportunity for you to socialize with the rest of the team,\u2019\u201d Lunden writes. \u201cNot having any close friendships in the newsroom, I was concerned that I would feel awkward and uncomfortable, like a tagalong. With some encouragement, I agreed to go.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, when she arrived on Fire Island, she realized this was not a work retreat, but a double date. The only other colleague was a WCBS-TV reporter and his girlfriend. <\/p>\n
\u201cI was embarrassed that I\u2019d been so naive as to let this situation unfold, and I was offended as a woman that a guy \u2014 my superior at work \u2014 thought he could get away with this! He assumed that I would just go along with it,\u201d Lunden writes. \u201cI was also scared because it felt like there was no way out. It was evening and the sky was getting darker by the minute. You can\u2019t just walk outside a home on Fire Island and hail a cab to take you back to your apartment.\u201d<\/p>\n
When she confronted Ted about his actions, he claimed the \u201coriginal plan fell through,\u201d but they should \u201cjust enjoy ourselves.\u201d Lunden alleges Ted pressured her to sleep in the bed with him, but she refused and spent the night on the couch and left the next morning. <\/p>\n
When she returned to work that Monday, Lunden thought Ted\u2019s attitude toward her had shifted. <\/p>\n
\u201cI was about to find out that hell hath no fury like a man scorned,\u201d Lunden wrote. \u201cTed started killing my stories \u2014 meaning he kept my stories from making the show lineup for one reason or another … I felt vulnerable and helpless.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lunden also believed that her reputation was affected, since her colleagues knew she went on an overnight trip with a supervisor, and fewer of her stories were making it to air. Lunden explained that this impacted her income because she was paid an additional bonus for each story that aired. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut even more disturbing than the loss of pay was having to put up with his attitude and what it said to me and other women who only wanted to work as equals,\u201d Lunden wrote. \u201cHis behavior clearly sent the message that women were not equal to men, and that when I\u2019d refused his overtures, he was free to seek revenge. This was clearly sexual harassment and sexual discrimination.\u201d<\/p>\n
After Ted\u2019s behavior persisted for a \u201ccouple of months,\u201d Lunden spoke to her agent and her lawyer, who advised her to sue Ted and WABC for sexual harassment and discrimination. She invited Ted to her office, where she threatened legal action and told him, \u201cThis has to stop. Now. I\u2019m not putting up with it another day.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI could see by the look on his face that my punch had landed,\u201d Lunden wrote. \u201cHe walked out, and we both went back to work. Sometimes, you just have to put on your big-girl pants and stand up for yourself, even if it feels incredibly uncomfortable and scary.\u201d<\/p>\n
After the conversation, Ted\u2019s actions improved, but Lunden felt \u201cif looks could kill, he fired enough shots for me to die many times over.\u201d Nonetheless, Lunden \u201cfelt vindicated\u201d by taking back power in the situation. <\/p>\n
\u201cI hope he\u2019s reading this. I\u2019d like to be writing only about how this wonderful mentor had helped me be a better reporter, and how he helped hone my creative skills, because he did do that. I\u2019m immensely appreciative. It\u2019s such a shame that he couldn\u2019t take that win,\u201d Lunden wrote. <\/p>\n
WABC-TV did not respond to a request for comment. <\/p>\n
Lunden went on to join ABC\u2019s \u201cGood Morning America\u201d in 1976 and co-anchored the show from 1980 to 1997. At \u201cGMA,\u201d Lunden negotiated her contract to have child-care provisions provided, including a designated space to breastfeed her daughter on set, and advocated<\/a> for discussing motherhood in the workplace. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Joan Lunden is reporting on her own story. In her 11th book, \u201cJoan: Life Beyond the Script,\u201d out…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":327419,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[31720,42926,44976,151442,93,151445,151444,151446,61,60,151441,28542,151447,10820,151448,82923,282,16959,151443],"class_list":{"0":"post-327418","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-attitude","9":"tag-behavior","10":"tag-colleague","11":"tag-edit-story","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-fire-island","14":"tag-former-tv-boss","15":"tag-host-joan-lunden","16":"tag-ie","17":"tag-ireland","18":"tag-lunden","19":"tag-man","20":"tag-sexual-discrimination","21":"tag-sexual-harassment","22":"tag-show-lineup","23":"tag-ted","24":"tag-tv","25":"tag-woman","26":"tag-work-get-together"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=327418"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327418\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/327419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=327418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=327418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=327418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}