Gannett Journalists Get Last Chance in Reverse Bias Suit (1)

Gannett Co. persuaded a federal court to toss a proposed class action lawsuit claiming the media company unlawfully passed over non-minority journalists for promotions and raises in order to diversify its ranks.

The claims from five named editors and reporters failed to state facts showing Gannett violated federal anti-discrimination law, the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia said Tuesday. And the complaint’s proposed class doesn’t share sufficiently common claims to move ahead as a group, Judge Rossie D. Alston, Jr. ruled.

Alston, however, said he would give the plaintiffs “a final opportunity to file a complaint that ...