Christine Craft's Discrimination Verdict Overturned

In August 1981, KMBC-TV removed American news anchor Christine Craft from its Kansas City anchor desk after a focus group deemed her "too old, too unattractive, and wouldn't defer to men." The station acted eight months into her two-year contract, even though its newscasts had risen from third to first in the ratings after she joined. Craft rejected the demotion and filed a Title VII lawsuit against station owner Metromedia. Two federal juries awarded her $500,000, but the Eighth Circuit overturned the verdict, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear her appeal.

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