we can confirm that rhonda lee was one of the employees.other employee was a white male reporter who was an a-year veteran of the station. the policy they violated provided specific procedure for responding to your comments on the official facebook page. on august 30, 2012, and e-mail was sent to all news department employees informing them of this procedure. this procedure is based on advice from national experts and commonly used by national broadcast and cable networks and local television stations across the country. >> i would like to get your response. also, what they told you when they called you and to notify you that they were letting you go? >> what i was told what initially was that i was going to be able to have a meeting with the voice you heard there, my direct supervisor, news director randy payne. and this was right after i posted the other message about the three minute smile with a little kids. before that, i guess it would be in november with the three minute smile facebook post, i said i was very confused as to what it i

meteorologist rhonda lee joins me with her story later tonight. and don't forget, you can listen to my radio show on sirius xm >>> new research destroys the myth that right to work laws create jobs. we'll look at what the law has done for indiana's economy. and i'll talk with filmmaker michael moore about his fight for workers in his home state of michigan. what's next? >>> and later, a reporter loses her job after responding to viewers on facebook. meteorologist rhonda lee joins me with her story later tonight. and don't forget, you can listen to my radio show on sirius xm radio channel 127 monday through friday noon to 3:00 p.m. and share your thoughts with us on facebook and twitter using the #edshow. we'll be right back. [ thunder crashes ] [ female announcer ] some people like to pretend a flood could never happen to them. and that their homeowners insurance protects them. [ thunder crashes ] it doesn't. stop pretending. only flood insurance covers floods. ♪ visit floodsmart.gov/pretend to learn your risk. >>> senator mccain and senator graha

back in october rhonda lee of ktbs in shreveport, louisiana responded to a viewer's comment about, ofwondered if lee had cancer and suggested she wear a wig or grow some more hair. lee's response read in part, "i'm very proud of my african-american ancestry, which includes my hair. many black women use strong straightening agents in order to achieve a more european grade of hair, and that is their choice. however, in my case i don't find it necessary. i'm very proud of who i am and the standard of beauty i display." a month later another viewer commented on facebook about a children's charity event and toy giveaway featured by the television station, ktbs. the viewer complained that too many of the event's participants were black. "am i the only one that has noticed that this year all the kids, let's say, are people of color? seems like some racism going on to me." lee responded to it that, "i'm not sure i understand your comment," she wrote. "the children are picked at random. so there goes your theory that they are selected for their color. i would like to think that it doesn't matt

rhonda lee, your response is reasonable and perhaps kind and thanked them.xplain, why did the explanation fire you. did they explain it properly is? was it just about this response issue? >> well, initially, i was -- i actually brought are that particular comment to the attention of management. i sent them a screen scrap at the time, and i told my manager, randy, at the time, well, you know, it seems like, i'm okay with not everybody liking me. that's fine. but a lot of our comments as of late have come across more racist than anything. so i would like to help with getting a policy together so that we can, one, block offensive posts like this. and two, maybe start a good dialogue for educating people and getting a good discourse, going on the web. so then the next few days after that, i was called into our general manager's office, and i was told that while we got lucky this time. and i got a little confused at first. i'm like, lucky, what do you mean? apparently according to the gm, it could have gone much worse. it could have gotten much more of ugly. so w

rhonda lee was nothing but polite and the firing absurd. the station should ignore viewers in this facebook age? that's it for this edition of "reliable sources." if you miss a program go to itunes on monday and download the audio podcast or buy the video versions. just search reliable sources in the itunes store. "state of the union" with candy crowley begins right now. >>> the nra steps into the gun debate and house speaker boehner gets tripped up on the fiscal cliff by his own party. today in the aftermath of newtown, the national rifle association offers a safe school plan. >> the only think that stops a bad guy with a gun, is a good guy with a gun. >> our conversation with nra point man asa hutchinson. connecticut senator joe lieberman on the culture of violence. then the gop's civil war. >> not the outcome that i wanted, but that was the will of the house. >> republican versus republican on the fiscal cliff with congressman steven la tourest and mick mulvaney. weighing in, "usa today's" bureau chief susan page, ron brownstein and mich

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here's a picture of rhonda lee. there's of course, nothing wrong with her.she wears her hair. she wrote back of the. >> cenk: that makes section. she went on to say: >> cenk: so, obviously outrangous, how could she have possibly done that. this caused concern by her employer. i'm still trying to find out what's wrong with those statements. i can't find out. this emmet writes in again the three minute smile where they give away a shopping spree for kids. he writes in and says: >> and then rhonda writes back. >> cenk: again a very fair question, but apparently her station ktbs tv did not agree. they fired her. every type i read this story i'm like really? when i get to that point really, they fired her over that? amazing to me. they say they put out a state object august 30 that said: >> cenk: well, lucky for us, we have rhonda lee with us right now on skype. we are going to talk to her about whether or not that is true. great to have you here. >> thank you very much for having me. >> now they say that they gave you the policy and that you didn't follow it. is

a story from last week, rhonda lee lost her job because of facebook.rologist at abc affiliate in shreveport, louisiana. was she rude to a viewer? not at all. a viewer wrote on facebook that the black lady that does the news needs to wear a wig or grow more hair. lee responded that, i am sorry you don't like my ethnic hair. i am very proud of my african-american ancestry which includes my hair. conforming to one standard isn't what being american is about and i hope you can embrace that. thank you for your comment and have a great weekend and thanks for watching. she was fired for that? >> i feel like i was being punished for defending myself, whereas other

rhonda lee, keep the face. you're a great talent, and things will work out. i appreciate your time on "the ed show" tonight. thanks so much. and that is "the ed show." i'm ed schultz. "the rachel maddow show" starts right now. good evening, rachel. >> good evening, ed. that was a tremendous closing story. great interview, man. thank you. thank you to those of you at home for joining us for this hour. after what has been honestly an amazing day of news. it was 3:342 eastern this afternoon when nbc news, network news broke into regular programming with an exclusive special report. watch. ♪ >> this is an nbc news special report. here's brian williams. >> good day. we're coming on the air right now to break exclusive word that the united states ambassador to the united nations, ambassador susan rice, has transmitted word to the president of the united states that she is withdrawing her own name from any future consideration for nomination to become perhaps the next secretary of state following hillary rodham clinton. >> that was the news broken today by nbc at 3:

her name is rhonda lee, and we'll chat with her about what happened. this is an unbelievable story.his election season, how could we pick the biggest liar? they've done it. we'll talk to them about what was the biggest life the election season? >> wow. >> the biggest lie? >> there are so many, and yet only one can be the winner. we'll tell you what it is ahead this morning. >>> 45 minutes past the hour. people in the southeast can't catch a break. more severe weather on the way. alexandra steele in this morning. >> another day. florida getting socked with rain. places like jupiter, incredible rain there. more rain today. showers and thunderstorms again potentially some damaging winds and hail even. to the west we go, hey, a boon for skiers, telluride, bull's-eye for you, jackson hole, bull's-eye for you. rain immediately along the coast, but a few storms working their way in, and across the country. big picture today, of course, there is the southeast. that stalled front holding on to southeast georgia. wet in florida. the northeast, cloudy skies for the most part. seasonably cool t

rhonda lee responded by saying she's comfortable with the skin and hair that god gave her, and she was again, just this past friday and asked to see the policy. and was told that there isn't anything written down. so if i was in violation of something, i would also assume it would be in my employee file. there's nothing there. >> but station management said they had sent out an all staff e-mail, this is it here, here is pieces of it, highlighted for you, stating that, quote, the only proper response to facebook comments is to pass on the contact details to a supervisor. criminal defense attorney drew finling joins me. welcome. she says she didn't know about this policy, the handbook policy she was talking about. if you respond, in her case by responding via facebook, is that grounds for termination? >> well, don't think it is. i think this is yet another example of how the law, whether it be employment, criminal, civil, contracts, domestic, has not wasn't in the handbook and she is going to be told she needed to react to a memo that came her way. >> an e-mail. >> some e-mail that came

rhonda simmons the director of the office of workforce development division in owdad. we're going to hold questions until the close of the program which the speakers will answer those questions and with that mayor lee. >> thank you. good morning everyone and go giants. yeah. [applause] well, let me begin by thanking everybody here. when i first began as mayor i said jobs was the most important thing we could do for people to get and i tell you what less than two years later that is still the most important thing that we can be doing and creating jobs, making people have the opportunity to get them and trained and educated and placing them in the newest areas in our technology industry and when ron conway. ron just arrived and got out of at&t together. we worked together and had a personal agreement if we were as a city were to help technology we were going to have technology help us, so less than two years later when i first started the unemployment rate in san francisco was 9.6% and last friday we flipd that number in less than two years. [applause] lead my all the industries but most importantly by our technology industry. over 14,000, to 15,000 jobs were technology sector alone so it's right for