As a prominent reporter and anchor at one of Iowa’s biggest local television stations, Sonya Heitshusen was known for doggedly investigating injustices and holding the powerful accountable.
A year after WHO-TV in Des Moines abruptly let her go, she is turning those skills on her former employer with a lawsuit challenging what she calls a widespread practice of removing older, female staffers from the air because of their looks.
Heitshusen filed an age and gender discrimination lawsuit Tuesday against WHO-TV’s parent company, Nexstar Media Group, Inc., which calls itself “America’s largest local television and media company,” with 199 stations.
The lawsuit alleges Heitshusen, 54, was “thrown out to pasture” because she was no longer seen as camera-worthy, after years in which she saw her male colleagues receive better treatment from management.
“Where are all the women who are in TV broadcasting over 50? You don’t see women on TV with gray hair and wrinkles,” she told The Associated Press last week. “It has to change. Women are relevant after the age of 50. They have a lot of great ideas. They are hard workers and can make a difference.”
She said she was bringing the lawsuit to help spur a “cultural shift” in the industry that makes discrimination no longer acceptable.
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