Alycia Lane
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Alycia Lane (born May 10, 1972) is an American
television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...
journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...
. Until October 2013, she served as weekday morning
anchor An anchor is a device, normally made of metal, used to secure a vessel to the bed of a body of water to prevent the craft from drifting due to wind or current. The word derives from Latin ', which itself comes from the Greek (). Anch ...
at
KNBC-TV KNBC (channel 4) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship station of the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Co ...
in
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
. From September 2003 until January 2008, she was co-anchor of the weekday evening newscasts on
KYW-TV KYW-TV (channel 3), branded as CBS Philadelphia, is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It is owned and operated by the CBS television network through its CBS News and Stations division alongside WPSG (channel 57 ...
in
Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
,
Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...
. Lane's contract with KYW-TV was terminated shortly after being arrested for allegedly striking a New York police officer and calling her a homophobic slur.


Background

Lane, a native of
Lake Grove, New York Lake Grove is a Political subdivisions of New York State#Village, village in the Brookhaven, New York, Town of Brookhaven in Suffolk County, New York, United States. The population was 11,163 at the 2010 census. History The area of Lake Grove wa ...
, is of Puerto Rican descent on her mother's side and Welsh descent on her father's. She has a
master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...
in Broadcast Journalism from the
Medill School of Journalism The Medill School of Journalism (branded as Northwestern Medill; formally the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications) is the journalism school of Northwestern University. It offers both undergraduate and graduat ...
at
Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...
, and an
undergraduate degree An undergraduate degree (also called first degree or simply degree) is a colloquial term for an academic degree earned by a person who has completed undergraduate courses. In the United States, it is usually offered at an institution of higher ed ...
from the
State University of New York at Albany The State University of New York at Albany (University at Albany, UAlbany, or SUNY Albany) is a public research university in Albany, New York, United States. Founded in 1844, it is one of four "university centers" of the State University of N ...
, where she graduated with honors. She is a member of the
National Association of Hispanic Journalists The National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ) is a Washington, D.C.–based organization dedicated to the advancement of Hispanic and Latino journalists in the United States and Puerto Rico. It was established in 1984. NAHJ has appr ...
and speaks fluent Spanish. Lane has been married twice and gave birth to a daughter in June 2014.


Career

Lane's television
career A career is an individual's metaphorical "journey" through learning, work (human activity), work and other aspects of personal life, life. There are a number of ways to define career and the term is used in a variety of ways. Definitions The ...
began while completing her master's degree at
Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...
, serving as a
Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
–based reporter for
KSNT KSNT (channel 27) is a television station in Topeka, Kansas, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside low-power broadcasting#Television, low-power, Class A television service, Class A Fox Broadcasting Comp ...
in
Topeka, Kansas Topeka ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Shawnee County. It is along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, in northeastern Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2020 cen ...
. After completing her studies, she returned to her native New York and joined
Cablevision Cablevision Systems Corporation was an American cable television company with systems serving areas surrounding New York City. It was the fifth-largest cable provider and ninth-largest television provider in the United States. Throughout its ex ...
-owned News 12 the Bronx, where she served as an anchor and
reporter A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...
. Among the stories she covered there was the 1999 shooting of
Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...
n
immigrant Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short- ...
Amadou Diallo In the early hours of February 4, 1999, an unarmed 23-year-old Guinean student named Amadou Diallo (born September 2, 1975) was fired upon with 41 rounds and shot a total of 19 times by four New York City Police Department plainclothes office ...
, who was shot to death by four
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
police officers A police officer (also called policeman or policewoman, cop, officer or constable) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, ''police officer'' is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of ...
. In 2000, Lane moved to
Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...
, after being hired as a reporter for
Fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...
affiliate
WSVN WSVN (channel 7) is a television station in Miami, Florida, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. Serving as the flagship station of locally based Sunbeam Television, it has studios on the 79th Street Causeway in North Bay Villag ...
. She joined a rival station,
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...
-owned
WTVJ WTVJ (channel 6) is a television station in Miami, Florida, United States. It is owned and operated by the NBC television network through its NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Fort Lauderdale–licensed WSCV (channel 51), a flag ...
a year later and spent two years there before moving to Philadelphia and
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...
-owned KYW-TV in September 2003. KYW-TV paired her with Larry Mendte on their 11:00 p.m. edition of ''CBS 3 Eyewitness News''. Mendte had been wooed away from rival
WCAU-TV WCAU (channel 10) is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It is owned and operated by the NBC television network through its NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Mount Laurel, New Jersey–licensed Tel ...
where he led the station to #1 in the ratings in some newscast slots for the first time in 30 years. By early 2004 KYW-TV had experienced "an amazing 61%" rise in the show's ratings. In 2005, she was awarded a local
Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...
for co-hosting the annual "Holiday Traditions"
special Special or specials may refer to: Policing * Specials, Ulster Special Constabulary, the Northern Ireland police force * Specials, Special Constable, an auxiliary, volunteer, or temporary; police worker or police officer * Special police forces ...
. After her stint at KYW-TV, Lane moved to
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
in July 2009 and was hired by NBC-owned
KNBC KNBC (channel 4) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast of the United States, West Coast flagship (broadcasting), flagship station of the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network ...
on August 18. She debuted on the air on August 29 as anchor of the weekend editions of the ''Channel 4 News'' where she replaced Kim Baldonado. In February 2010, Lane became co-anchor of '' Today in L.A.'' on KNBC. In 2011, Lane received a National Edward R. Murrow Award for Writing on a special story about a mysterious disorder called 'Angelman Syndrome'. In addition, she has won multiple Emmy Awards at KNBC, along with two Golden Mic Awards. In October 2013, KNBC announced that Lane was no longer employed by the station.


Scandals


Bikini pictures

In May 2007, Lane became the center of a national media story when reports surfaced that she emailed pictures of herself and friends, in
bikinis A bikini is a two-piece swimsuit primarily worn by women that features one piece on top that covers the breasts, and a second piece on the bottom: the front covering the pelvis but usually exposing the navel, and the back generally covering ...
, to the
NFL Network NFL Network (occasionally abbreviated on-air as NFLN) is an American sports-oriented pay television network owned by the National Football League NTP and is part of NFL Media, which also includes NFL.com, NFL Films, NFL Mobile, NFL Now and N ...
's
Rich Eisen Richard Eisen ( ; born June 24, 1969) is an American television sportscaster and radio host. Since 2003, he has worked for NFL Network as a host of various pregame, halftime, and postgame shows and doing occasional play-by-play. He also hosts ...
, via an account that he shared with his wife,
Suzy Shuster Suzy Shuster (born ) is an American sportscaster, whose work has appeared on ABC Sports, ESPN, Turner Sports, FOX Sports and HBO. Education Shuster attended high school at the Winsor School before graduating from Columbia University with a de ...
. Shuster's email response became public. Lane insisted that the pictures were harmless and that she and Eisen have been "purely platonic" friends "for almost 10 years", and that they "regularly exchange e-mail and photos". In June 2010, CBS released emails between Lane and Eisen that suggested something more than a friendly relationship. The emails were released as part of a pre-trial motion in Lane's wrongful termination suit against CBS.


Assault charges

Lane was
arrest An arrest is the act of apprehending and taking a person into custody (legal protection or control), usually because the person has been suspected of or observed committing a crime. After being taken into custody, the person can be question ...
ed in the early morning hours of December 16, 2007, in New York City, accused of physically and verbally
assault In the terminology of law, an assault is the act of causing physical harm or consent, unwanted physical contact to another person, or, in some legal definitions, the threat or attempt to do so. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may ...
ing a female police officer, as well as making
homophobic Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who identify or are perceived as being lesbian, Gay men, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred, or ant ...
comments, calling the officer a "fucking dyke". Lane was charged with one
felony A felony is traditionally considered a crime of high seriousness, whereas a misdemeanor is regarded as less serious. The term "felony" originated from English common law (from the French medieval word "''félonie''") to describe an offense that r ...
count of assault on a police officer. The criminal case was effectively closed on February 25, 2008, when a New York
judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...
dropped the felony assault charges against her and reduced Lane's charges to
misdemeanor A misdemeanor (American English, spelled misdemeanour elsewhere) is any "lesser" criminal act in some common law legal systems. Misdemeanors are generally punished less severely than more serious felonies, but theoretically more so than admi ...
s. The case was then
adjourned In parliamentary procedure, an adjournment ends a meeting. It could be done using a motion to adjourn. A time for another meeting could be set using the motion to fix the time to which to adjourn. Law In law, to adjourn means to suspend or postp ...
, with an additional provision that the charges against Lane would be dropped on the condition that she is not arrested, at any time, over the next six months. A New York City Police Association expressed "outrage" over the reduction and dismissal of charges against Lane.


Dismissal from KYW-TV

On January 7, 2008, while suspended from KYW-TV for the assault on a New York police officer, the station announced that Lane had been released from her
contract A contract is an agreement that specifies certain legally enforceable rights and obligations pertaining to two or more parties. A contract typically involves consent to transfer of goods, services, money, or promise to transfer any of thos ...
. In a
statement Statement or statements may refer to: Common uses *Statement (computer science), the smallest standalone element of an imperative programming language *Statement (logic and semantics), declarative sentence that is either true or false *Statement, ...
, the station explained the decision to terminate Lane, stating:
After assessing the overall impact of a series of incidents resulting from judgments she has made ... we have concluded that it would be impossible for Alycia to continue to report the news as she, herself, has become the focus of so many news stories.
Lane's
legal counsel A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as wel ...
, Paul Rosen, subsequently released a statement which challenged the station's reasoning:
The termination comes at a time when there has been absolutely no determination that Alycia is guilty of any wrongful conduct, and after KYW-TV has aired her categorical denial of the alleged charge that is pending against her. The termination is unfair because Alycia has never had an opportunity to defend against this charge, and tell her side of the story publicly, before KYW-TV has taken this unusual and unwarranted step to terminate her employment.
On January 30, 2008, Lane's lawyers filed a
writ of summons A writ of summons is a formal document issued by the monarch that enables someone to sit in a Parliament under the United Kingdom's Westminster system. At the beginning of each new Parliament, each person who has established their right to attend ...
on her behalf, a preemptive move towards a
lawsuit A lawsuit is a proceeding by one or more parties (the plaintiff or claimant) against one or more parties (the defendant) in a civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today ...
against KYW-TV in connection with her dismissal. On February 19, 2008, lawyers for CBS, KYW-TV's parent company, sought to move Lane's state court writ to the U.S. District Court in Philadelphia, though a provision in Lane's contract stated that employment disputes were to be handled in New York, where the network is headquartered. On June 19, 2008, Lane filed suit against KYW-TV and station manager Michael Colleran alleging that she was exploited and defamed. On December 12, 2013, Lane's lawsuit against CBS was dismissed after a hearing determined that Lane purposely destroyed evidence in the case. Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Alan Tereshko ruled that it would be impossible for CBS to defend itself without Lane's laptop. In March, Tereshko also dismissed Lane's lawsuit against Mendte for the same reason.


E-mail incident

On May 31, 2008, ''
The Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'', often referred to simply as ''The Inquirer'', is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded on June 1, 1829, ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is the third-longest continuously operating da ...
'' reported that Larry Mendte, Alycia Lane's former co-anchor, was under investigation by the
FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...
for allegedly reading Lane's private e-mail, and for feeding her private information to gossip columnists over the years including Dan Gross of the
Philadelphia Daily News ''Philadelphia Daily News'' is a tabloid newspaper that serves Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper is owned by The Philadelphia Inquirer, LLC, which also owns ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'', a daily newspaper in Philadelphia. The ''Dail ...
. On July 21, 2008, Mendte was charged with one felony count of intentionally accessing a protected computer without authorization. In August 2008, Mendte pleaded guilty and in November 2008 he was sentenced to three years' probation and six months' home confinement. Alycia Lane sued Larry Mendte,
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...
, and the former general manager of KYW-TV over the incident. In December 2012 the suit against CBS was thrown out after the judge found that Alycia Lane had destroyed evidence. The suit against Mendte was settled in 2016.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lane, Alycia Television anchors from Los Angeles Television anchors from Philadelphia American people of Puerto Rican descent American people of Welsh descent Medill School of Journalism alumni People from Suffolk County, New York University at Albany, SUNY alumni 1972 births Living people Journalists from New York (state) 20th-century American journalists 21st-century American journalists