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Health Reporter Maher Laid Off By WFLA

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By KEVIN WALKER | The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 11, 2008

Updated: 07/11/2008 03:55 pm

About Irene Maher

TAMPA - Award-winning journalist Irene Maher, who has covered health care issues for WFLA, Channel 8 since 1985, was laid off this morning as part of a reduction in force at the station.

It was unclear whether Maher will be on air for News Channel 8 again. She can continue to work for another 90 days, but under the provisions of her contract, she can either work those days or get paid for them without working. "At this point, I haven't decided what I am going to do," she said.

Maher said the decision from management came as a surprise.

"I can't hope to express my disappointment with this decision," she said. "I think there are probably other places that they could have made cuts. But I guess they had to do what they had to do."

Maher said she was called to a meeting on this morning with station news director Don North and Marsha Taylor-Holland, the director of human resources for WFLA, the Tampa Tribune and TBO.com.

"When you get a phone call on Friday morning from human resources, you know that can't be good. As soon as I saw that on my caller ID, I knew it was over, even before I walked into her office."

North said today the decision was not an easy one. "We are in economic circumstances where we are doing some things that we do not want to do, but we are having to do them," he said.

The decision on Maher is part of layoffs at the television station, which is owned my Media General, which also owns the Tampa Tribune and TBO.com. The Tribune also is in the midst of a staff reduction.

Maher started work at WFLA on Aug. 12, 1985. She came to Tampa from WAVY-TV in Portsmouth/Newport, Va.

"It has been a privilege to do this job," Maher said, adding that viewers would be the big losers with this decision.

"People are just so desperate for good health care coverage, I feel really sorry for them."

Maher said her biggest disappointment is being downsized just three years shy of reaching 55. At that age, and with her years of service, she would have qualified for health care benefits in retirement. "That is devastating to me," she said.

Maher said she is currently in a five-year contract. But station management decided to let Maher go under a contractual provision that allowed them to terminate the contract after two years.

"I agreed to that language reluctantly," Maher said. "I guess if I hadn't agreed to the contract, I might have lost my job then."

Maher said she plans to return to the office on Monday to tie up loose ends, including scheduled interviews for stories and some speaking engagements.

The Virginia native attended the College of William and Mary and received a degree in Theatre and Speech. Maher has received awards for her reporting from the American Cancer Society, The American Heart Association, The Edward R. Murrow Awards, The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International and the Tampa Bay Society of Professional Journalists.

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