DETROIT (AP) — A white Detroit television reporter says he’s left his job following a comment he made about a black colleague at a journalism conference.
A post on the Facebook page of Kevin Dietz late Monday says that while taking a photo with other WDIV-TV staff at last month’s Investigative Reporters & Editors conference in Houston he jokingly told the group they’re “probably going to have to crop the black reporter out of the photo.”
Dietz, who had been with the station since 1993, says he intended to openly acknowledge challenges that his company and others face in achieving diversity goals, but his remark violated the station’s zero-tolerance policy on racially insensitive comments. He’s apologizing to anyone he offended.
A statement from WDIV-TV says Dietz resigned and it wouldn’t discuss specifics.