How an anti-bias lawsuit is tearing the NY1 newsroom apart

On June 19, a court case was filed that shook the Big Apple media scene to its core. Five veteran NY1 journalists — Roma Torre, Kri🍎sten Shaughnessy, Vivian Lee, Amanda Farinacci and Jeanine Ramirez — are suing the local cable news channel. The women, ages 40 to 61, claim management engaged in age and gender discrimination, dim❀inishing their roles while elevating younger, less experienced lookalikes.

All of the plaintiffs still work at the station — and, as Shaughnessy, 50, admits, it’s not an easy thing to sue your curre𒉰nt employer.

The day the claim dropped, she was reporting🀅 from Manhattan Criminal Court and Rikers Island. When Shaughnessy, who has been at NY1 since 1995, returned to the ♚newsroom around 5:30 p.m., she held her breath.

“I kind of prepared myself that Roma might be the only person talking to me that day,” Shaughnessy told The Post. “To my surprise . . . there were high-fives, hugs. Some people would walk by and wink. Others would say, ‘Good for you.’ I knew we would get some support, but I didn’t expect anything like that because people were so afr💧aid of management.”

But over the next few days, fea📖r 𓆏did cloud the atmosphere.

“We had a meeting right after the lawsuit dropped. Nobody would sit next to Jeanine,” said one station employee who, like other sources interviewed for this story, asked to remain anonymous because they are concerned about retri𒐪bution by management. “Now people are walking on eggshells. There’s a lot of whispering going on.”

Behind the scenes at NY1’s Chelsea Market studio, battle lines were being drawn. According to multiple sources, some employees are quietly supportive of the plaintiffs, while others feel the suit comes from a place of jealous🌺y and a lack of understanding about ratings. Rivalries have been exposed, as have accusations of a 🌸“mean girls” clique on the morning show and cries of favoritism.

The suit calls out Pat Kiernan, the popular morning show anchor who, over the past 22 years, has become the face of the news channel — ⛎claiming he enjoys perks other longtime employees do not, such as a new set and a splashy celebration marking his 20th anniversary at NY1. According to the cl൩aim, Torre received no such festivities for her 25th year. The suit also claims that Torre was told by management to “stop complaining” when she was forbidden from using the morning show’s set.

One station inside꧑ꦗr said that Torre’s grievances are sour grapes — and not about discrimination.

“I think Roma is jealous of Pat, and sh🐼e wants to destroy him. Pat was one of the many people who were hurt by the lawsuit. And I think she’s just looking for a giant payout,” said the station insider.

“To say that this is ‘jealousy’ of the way [male colleagues] are treated is completely insulting and mis🎐ses the po🐼int entirely,” Torre, 61, countered. “I have absolutely no . . . ill will towards Pat Kiernan.”

The NY1 employee, meanwhile, claims that the special treatment has inflated 🏅Kiernan’s ﷽ego and that people tread lightly around him, fearing tantrums. The station employee recalled the anchor lashing out when talent from afternoon shows wanted to use his set. (Kiernan, 50, declined to comment for this story.)

The station insider, while not denying the 𝓰tantrum, said of Kiernan: “He treats people so fairly.”

Shaughnessy acknowledged the suit has brought ou🌠t dissenters and angry 💃colleagues.

“They have✨ tried to make us uncomfortable and spread rumors. The bottom line is, we are telling the tru♕th,” she said.

One of those who has vocally expressed her feelings about being named in the lawsuit is reporter Angi Gonzal♏ez. The claim says that executives have apparently been grooming Gonzalez, along with colleagues including Shannan Ferry, 26, and Bree Driscoll, 36, as “literal ‘replacements’ that track each of Plaintiffs’ respective appearances and ethnic backgrounds,” alleging that the younger reporters have bee♕n getting plum assignments despite having far less ­experience than the plaintiffs.

On June 24, Gonzalez tweeted: “As a chil𓆏d, my mom taught me about a good work ethic. She said therꦕe will always be someone young­er, prettier or more well-connected than you so you always have to work your hardest to get what u want . . . No one is just going to give it to you.”

Gonzalez, 38, ad🧸mitted to The Post, “That was me trying really hard to defend myself and speak my mind. One of the things I took issue with is being referred to as inexperienced. I have 16 years experience.”

But some aren’t having it. “In the days after the lawsuit, [Gonzalez] was posti🎐ng some wild and passive-aggressive tweets. Her tweets are just rude,” said a former employee who is still tapped in to the newsroom.

Numerous sources told The Post that other employees named in the lawಌsuit have been making catty remarks in the workplace.

The former employ﷽ee said the vitriol is disheartening. “Kristen and Roma have always been great mentors, and [the suit is] not personal . . . I don’t think any of [the younger reporters] realize this.”

It’s a surprising evolution for a place where the message useඣd to be: sharp elbows need n🐽ot apply.

“We didn’t pay as much as local stations but it wasn’t a cutthroat atmosphere,” former news director Dan Jacobson told The Post. “It ﷺwas collegial and fair. That was a huge selling point for retaining people.”

Launched in 1992, NY1 was — as co-founder Richard Aurelio told Patch in 2017 — “a community service to the city.” On-air talent was rela🍒table and the sets and graphics were amateurish, in a charming way.

Broadcasteꦓrs like Torre, Lewis Dodley, Cheryl Wills, Shaughnessy and Kiernan beca🦂me local celebrities, but no one was officially promoted as a station star.

The former employee recal🐽led a family atmosphere where colleagues once chipped in to defray the cost of veterinarian bill🌞s after a colleague’s cat died.

But things shifted in 2016, when parent company Time Warner Cable merged with Charter Communicꩲations in a $65 billion deal. The new honchos reportedl𒁏y wanted to give the station a slick makeover. But as they prettied up the place, ugliness surfaced.

“It became corporate and not fun anymore. People were g♚etting💎 written up for nonsense,” said the former staffer.

In March 2017, several longtime staffers, including “The Call” host John Schiumo and film critic Neil Rosen, were let go. Anthony Proia — who left in June — became the news director and former local-edition head Melissa Rabinovich, who had overseen the borough reporters, including “replacements” Fꦡerry and Driscoll, was his deputy.

(Proia is accused𝔍 in the suit of dismissing plaintiffs as “complainer☂s” while Rabinovich was accused of marginalizing their roles.)

The former staffer said Rabinovich was a poor choice. “She likes to stir things 🃏up, sit back and watch it play out,” said the source, alleging that Rabino𓆏vich can be unfairly tough on employees. “She is literally Lucifer.”

The former staffer added that Rabinovich stepped up her ambition when Charter took over in 2016: “She was telling executives all o🐻f these plans for the future . . . I guess they drank the Kool-Aid.”

(A representative for Charter had no comment on thisꦬ.)

The station insider agree🐽s that Rabinovich — who has 𒁏a child with special needs and a husband fighting cancer — isn’t always present but said she is communicative, if tough: “I have had it out with her but I never take it personally.”

Both the lawsuit and the station employee accuse R🉐abinovich of elevatingꦿ to anchor spots reporters who aren’t ready for prime time — with the station employee adding that they sometimes mispronounce names and don’t possess institutional knowledge.

“I’m not saying S🔯hannan Ferry won’t be a great anchor one day. But she’s not ready. Melissa is doing [the ‘replacements’] a disservice by not making them earn their stripes in the field like Kristen and Roma did.

“If news breaks, I can hand Roma a three-line press release and she can go on air for three hours,” said the station employee.

B𒅌ut, the station insider alleged, Shaughnessy and Ramirez, 49, have also benefited from fa🐠voritism.

“Kristen and Jeanine were very close with the woman who [formerly] ran the൲ schedule, so they got first dibs on filling in when Pat was on vacation,” said the station insider.

The suit claims Shaughnessy lost h🐭er unofficial role as a Kiernan fill-in after the 2017 launch of “Mornings on 1.” Now business anchor Annika Pergament has the gig.

Much of the behind-the-scenes gossip swirls around the morning show, which features Kiernan, Pergament, traffic reporter Jamie Stelter and meteorologist Stacy-Ann Gooden. Jealousies brewed when Charter poured resources into the🐻 show’s launch, including the new set, subway and bus ads, and promotional videos that were verboten under Time Warner.

“The execs have made things shiny and nice for the people they want to make things shiny and nice for,” said the station employe🎃e, alleging that the morning show is filled with egos.

Said the former employee, “It’s like a ‘mean girls’ environment♛. Jamie has an infla🌜ted sense of self. Pat, Jamie and Annika . . . are very cliquey.”

According to the Charter spokesperson, “Mornings on 1” is a hit: “Household ratings are over twice as high as all [of NY1’s] weekday live news and original programs, and 60 percent higher than all live news and original programs.”

Indeed, sources say that the plaintiffs seemingly don’t want to accept that Kiernan g♛ets special treatment because he has earned it.

“When you come in at 3 a.m. and you work 🌺hard to put on a good show and someone [else] is dialing it in, there are things that are easy to misinterpret,” the station insider said of Kiernan’s attitude. “It’s his name on the line.”

The Charter rep added,💞 “We know that viewers are loyal to certain individuals. As is typical with any network, we have empha🃏sized the most popular programming, our ‘Mornings on 1’ show.”

Tensions flared up even more tওwo weeks ago, when Torre complained that she was passed over to an𒆙chor the ticker-tape parade for the US Women’s National Soccer Team, in favor of Kiernan and Stelter.

Torre penned an open letter to Mayor Bill de Blasio asking him༒ to condemn the station, which, according to the station insider, eroded some of the support for ℱthe plaintiffs.

“Don’t use your personal﷽ vendetta to try and 🌳corrupt the credibility of the newsroom,” said the station insider. “A lot of people who work here have nothing to do with your problems.”