What to know
- Tina Yazdani has filed a lawsuit against Rogers and is reportedly seeking $150,000 in notice wages and $500,000 in punitive and moral damages.
- The former Queen’s Park reporter alleges she was fired after management criticized her reporting as overly confrontational with politicians.
- Rogers denies the allegations, saying Yazdani repeatedly breached company news and social media policies and that the lawsuit is “without merit.”
- Torontonians largely expressed support for journalists aggressively questioning politicians, while noting reporters must remain fair and factual.
Toronto residents are sharing their takes after former CityNews reporter Tina Yazdani launched a lawsuit against the media outlet’s parent company Rogers for notice wages and punitive and moral damages.
A case view on the Ontario Courts Public Portal reveals that Yazdani has filed a lawsuit against Rogers on May 28, classified as a civil suit on employment or labour law.
The lawsuit comes two months after the Queen’s Park reporter abruptly left CityNews after several years with the company. Weeks after her termination, Yazdani posted a video on social media saying her exit from the company was “unfair,” and suggesting she would take “formal steps” to address it.
At the time, Toronto employment lawyer Kathryn Marshall shared a news report about Yazdani’s dismissal saying “stay tuned.” Marshall is now listed as the reporter’s legal representation in the Ontario Courts Public Portal.
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Rogers claims Yazdani violated journalistic standards
As first reported by Toronto Life, which had access to the case’s statement of claim, Yazdani is suing for $150,000 in wages she claims she should have received for an 18-month notice period and $500,000 in punitive and moral damages.
According to the claim, the reporter alleges that she was fired from CityNews after new management found her reporting style to be “inappropriate, unnecessarily confrontational with politicians, and [violate] Rogers’ journalistic standards.”
However, she claims that she followed established editorial processes and that all her work was approved by the editorial team before being published. In addition, she says CityNews never previously discouraged reporters from pursuing politicians.
Issues allegedly started in 2025
Yazdani first began her work with CityNews in 2018, but in the lawsuit she reportedly claims issues started in 2025 after she was sent to a press conference in Buffalo where she was going to ask Ontario Premier Doug Ford about a controversial Skills Development Fund.
At the time, the reporter called out the premier on social media for refusing to take her questions.
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According to Toronto Life, the reporter alleges that the report that included footage of the premier ignoring her questions was unpublished without her knowledge or any explanations.
In 2026, the reporter brought up the issue to management, who allegedly told her the report had been “unnecessarily confrontational” and a breach of Rogers’ journalistic standards, and issued her a formal warning.
The incident was reportedly followed by other discussions with managers on other stories, with claims that other reports were also a breach of the company’s journalistic standards.
Yazdani was then terminated on April 2, under alleged claims that her reporting were breaching the company’s policies.
‘This lawsuit is without merit:’ Rogers responds
In an email statement about Yazdani’s lawsuit shared with Now Toronto on Friday, Charmaine Khan, a spokesperson for Rogers Sports & Media, said that “repeated breaches of our news and social media policies did not meet the journalistic standards we expect in serving our audiences.”
She also added that that reporting included changing “the tone and context of a politician’s remarks,” which was identified by senior management.
“This lawsuit is without merit, and we will vigorously defend these baseless allegations in court,” Khan added.
‘I fully support her:’ Torontonians react
Now Toronto took to the streets to get Torontonians’ takes on the case.
One resident, Kristen F., said she supports Yazdani, emphasizing the importance of protecting journalist’s freedom of expression.
“I believe she was fired wrongfully, and it seems like it was kind of politically based, and I think that it is a really big concern for us as a society,” she said. “It absolutely should not stand, and I fully support her suing the pants off them.”
Kristen also said she believes reporters like Yazdani should have the freedom to be confronted with politicians and demand answers.
“They owe us answers. They are publicly elected officials. They are responsible to their electorate, and that’s what journalism is for,” she added.
Another Torontonian, Anakin S., also agreed that journalists should have freedom to be tough on politicians, and said he would support Yazdani if her claims prove to be truthful.
If she’s too hard on politicians, that’s fair. Someone’s got to be hard on politicians…I think reporters should be much tougher so that these politicians are accountable and have more actions,” he said.
Owen, another Toronto resident, also agreed, saying he believes more reporters should press politicians on current issues, and represent the public’s voices.
“I mean, look at the state of Ontario right now…I think that we should pressure more politicians all the time,” he said. “They should be actually listening to what we want from the city, and not what they want to do with the city.”
Similarly, resident Christian Garcia said he supports Yazdani if her claims are proven truthful, but emphasized that there is a line between being tough or being unfair.
“I think that’s what reporters are supposed to do. I think it’s important to be critical of the leaders in our city,” he said.
“I think there’s a fine line between criticism and then just being harsh without any facts to back it up, but I hope it goes well for her.”
