Ex-CityNews reporter Tina Yazdani is suing Rogers for $650,000

After being fired by CityNews last April, Tina Yazdani, a former reporter for the program, has launched a $650,000 lawsuit against Rogers, its parent company.

In a statement of claim filed with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice on May 28, the Queen’s Park correspondent alleges that she was terminated because the company’s new management found that her “long-standing reporting style was inappropriate, unnecessarily confrontational with politicians, and violated Rogers’ journalistic standards.”

Yazdani is seeking just over $150,000 to cover wages she would have earned during an 18-month notice period, which she says she was entitled to, plus $500,000 more in punitive and moral damages.

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“For nearly eight years, she reported in the same assertive, accountability-focused manner that CityNews had long encouraged in all their journalists, and at no point was she advised that pursuing politicians for answers was contrary to any Rogers policy,” Yazdani’s claim reads. “At all material times, Ms. Yazdani followed the established editorial process, with her scripts, footage, and story framing being reviewed and approved by producers with full access to the raw materials. Rogers cannot now categorize as misconduct work that its own editorial team vetted and authorized for broadcast.”

None of the allegations in her statement of claim have been proven in court.

Rogers Sports and Media spokesperson Charmaine Khan wrote in a statement that Yazdani’s lawsuit “is without merit, and we will vigorously defend these baseless allegations in court.”

Khan’s statement continues, “CityNews is committed to responsible practices and editorial standards in our reporting that reflect truth, accuracy and objectivity. Repeated breaches of our news and social media policies did not meet the journalistic standards we expect in serving our audiences. This includes reporting that changed the tone and context of a politician’s remarks. These breaches were identified internally and independently by the senior news editorial team.”

First hired by CityNews in 2018, Yazdani maintained a spotless disciplinary record for more than seven years, according to her claim. But things changed in late 2025, when she was dispatched to a Buffalo press conference involving Premier Doug Ford, with instructions to ask questions regarding the provincial government’s controversial Skills Development Fund. Ontario’s integrity commissioner had recently opened an investigation into Labour Minister David Piccini’s handling of the $2.5-billion fund.

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Yazdani’s report, which included footage of Ford ignoring her questions as he left the press conference, was eventually removed from CityNews’ website. In her claim, Yazdani alleges that the piece was pulled without her knowledge or any explanation to the public, in violation of Rogers’ own journalistic policies. (Yazdani was not the only journalist who asked Ford about the fund. A report still available on Yazdani’s X feed shows Ford answering another reporter’s question on the topic.)

The fallout from the Buffalo press conference continued in early 2026, Yazdani’s claim says. Her manager, Jessica Bruno, and senior manager, Brendan O’Mahony, told Yazdani that her report was a “serious breach of journalistic standards and was unnecessarily confrontational in both tone and approach,” according to the claim. Rogers issued her a formal written warning.

“Disturbed by the severity of the warning, she sought a meeting with her News Director Amar Sodhi,” the claim reads. “He described the matter as ‘very serious’ and stated that these decisions were coming from senior management.”

Yazdani’s second strike came last March, after posting what her claim calls a “light-hearted video demonstrating her history of challenging government officials” in response to a social media post by student protesters who had labelled her a “mouthpiece for the government.” Although Yazdani immediately complied with an instruction to remove the video, Rogers still handed her a written warning.

Several weeks later, when Yazdani filed a report featuring Education Minister Paul Calandra, it appears that Rogers decided to take action. She had included a clip from a media scrum in which Calandra tells Yazdani not to interrupt him. Yazdani’s claim explains that the clip was left in because it “provided essential context about the minister’s demeanour.”

“The story itself did not take the minister’s words out of context, nor did it change the underlying meaning of his words. As always, the story and video clips were reviewed and approved by producers prior to submission and before airing,” her claim continues.

Related: Ontario’s integrity commissioner is investigating the $2.5-billion Skills Development Fund

However, Yazdani’s bosses were not convinced, telling her that the inclusion of the clip was another “serious breach” of journalistic standards. That story was also removed from CityNews’ website.

After meeting with O’Mahony and a senior HR representative, Yazdani was terminated with cause on April 2. According to her claim, Rogers said that a “willful breach” of company policies had irreparably damaged the employment relationship. But Yazdani’s claim rejects the company’s characterization of her conduct, calling it “outrageously misleading and patently false.”

“Rogers knows, or ought to know, that there is no legal basis for their allegation that her submitted stories and packages were a breach of their journalistic standards, nor that she willfully displayed a pattern of misconduct that would amount to a breach of employment standard worthy of a for cause termination,” the claim reads.

Yazdani’s claim alleges that she was owed at least 18 months’ notice of termination. As well as lost wages, her claim for compensation over that period includes other perks that came with the job, including a $500 bi-monthly allowance for makeup, an annual $3,000 clothing allowance, and 50 per cent off her monthly cable and phone bill.

In addition, Yazdani’s claim seeks $250,000 in moral and bad faith damages, alleging that the circumstances “fall far short” of the high bar for just-cause dismissal, as well as $250,000 in punitive damages for the physical, mental and reputational damage that she says she suffered as a result of Rogers’ “harsh, callous, reprehensible and malicious” actions.

Since being fired from CityNews, Yazdani has been hired by the Trillium, where her reporting on Queen’s Park continues.

Related: Why does the province want to keep documents from Doug Ford’s office a secret?