Posted by chicagomedia.org on November 02, 2009 at 10:49:08:
In Reply to: Mike Barz fighting back after firing posted by chicagomedia.org on November 02, 2009 at 10:45:52:
Anna Davlantes wants deal; Mike Barz wants reinstatement, back pay
by Phil Rosenthal, Chicago Tribune
Today is the first day of the rest of Anna Davlantes' career.
The anchor and reporter who has been off the air since the end of July, when she walked away from NBC-owned WMAQ-Ch. 5 after nine years, has emerged from contractual purgatory and is now free and clear to negotiate with other outlets. Look for her to land with a new outlet soon.
Davlantes -- who posted on her Facebook page on Sept. 1 that she expected to be back on air in November -- said shortly after she decided not to renew her Channel 5 contract that she would be "looking for new opportunities to grow" and just wanted to be happy.
"It was time for me to move on, and I have some exciting things I'd like to be able to talk about, explaining where I might land," Davlantes said at that time. "But there's this period of time, this interim period, where I'm very restricted. ... Hopefully that period of time won't be that long."
Meanwhile, another former Chicago anchor, Mike Barz, who was shown the door at Fox-owned WFLD-Ch. 32 in July after a station investigation into an allegation of misconduct at going-away party for a colleague, has hired a lawyer and filed a grievance through his union in hopes of regaining his job and getting his back-pay.
Barz didn't respond to the latest requests for comment on Friday, but he broke his public silence in telling former Chicago Sun-Times columnist Robert Feder, now blogging for Chicago Public Radio, that he wants to right what he considers a wrong.
"I expect that as this process plays out, people will realize the truth," former morning man Barz told Feder, who formally launched his vocalo.org blog on Monday. "It's all been very unfair and unfortunate because it has dragged my name through the mud."
Barz, who previously worked for ABC News' "Good Morning America" and Chicago Tribune parent Tribune Co.'s WGN-Ch. 9, had around eight months remaining on his WFLD contract at the time of his exit.