– President sees no problems with pregnant news anchor
– PM tells CEO to issue “unqualified apology”

By Ravin Singh

NATASHA Smith, the anchor of the evening news programme of state broadcaster NCN, was back to normal duties Wednesday, with the broadcaster honouring a commitment to reinstate her.Despite claims by the Chief Executive Officer, Lennox Cornette, that Ms Smith was not removed as the anchor because of her pregnancy, Ms Smith contended that that was indeed the case, and minutes of an August 8, 2016 meeting seemed to substantiate that claim. At a meeting Tuesday with the Guyana Press Association (GPA), NCN undertook to have Ms Smith read the news once more.

Ms Smith is only expected to anchor the news for a brief period before she proceeds on maternity leave.
On Wednesday, the NCN anchor also won the backing of President David Granger and Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo.

“…you cannot have children without being pregnant. So we (have to) start to accept pregnancy as something very normal and don’t regard it as a strange or unusual occurrence,” the President told reporters when he was asked to comment on the controversy.

“…you cannot have children without being pregnant. So we (have to) start to accept pregnancy as something very normal and don’t regard it as a strange or unusual occurrence.” – President Granger

“Pregnancy is normal; so let us celebrate it and be grateful that we have pregnant women. I don’t mind if she is on the screen or on the radio – why not?”

During a meeting on Tuesday with the CEO and other executives of NCN, the GPA called for the intervention of the Board of Directors of NCN, as well as the Office of the Prime Minister, to look into the operations of NCN.

In a statement Wednesday evening, the Prime Minister, who has oversight of the information sector, said he had advised the CEO to tender an unqualified apology to Ms. Smith “for using her pregnancy as reason to remove her temporarily as News Anchor.”

Mr Nagamootoo stated that from information received and the explanations given by the CEO, he was “in no doubt that the removal of Ms. Smith was due to her state of pregnancy, and that the act is an attack on her as a woman and as a professional journalist.”

The Prime Minister said he could not condone any such act and disassociated himself from the action in this matter by NCN.

“Our coalition government stands for full equality of our women and their right to work or association must not be denied or in any way trampled by their free choice to be married or to remain single, or to bear or not to bear children,” he stated.

Mr Nagamootoo applauded all those bodies and individuals who came forward in condemnation of this act of discrimination against Ms. Smith, whom he said has earned respect for her professional presentation of the NCN News.

“It agonises me to get involved in what is an NCN management matter but, as a journalist and as a parent, I refuse to be silent on this occasion,” the Prime Minister stated.

In a statement issued after their meeting with NCN Tuesday, the GPA said it managed to secure a copy of the minutes of the August 8, 2016 management meeting which pointed to a discussion on the production of a news montage. The minutes read thus: ‘With regards to this, the CEO stated that the anchor and wardrobe should coincide with the montage. However, given the present condition of Ms. Natasha Smith, the CEO asked that a tight shot be done to remedy the view….”

According to the GPA, following that discussion, the CEO recommended that Ms. Smith be replaced.

Smith’s removal from anchoring was highlighted after news surfaced about the suspension of the company’s Sports editor, Jocelle Archibald-Hawke, who was accused of making a defamatory comment about one of her colleagues on social media.

Archibald-Hawke expressed the view on her personal Facebook profile that she was “surrounded by idiots,” after her colleague, Norman Gobin questioned the President on his television show ‘The Public Interest,’ about an augmented reality game “Pokemon Go.”

The Sports editor was asked to apologise and did so. But she was suspended because the apology was not to the likeness of her colleague.

The GPA insisted that the suspension should be rescinded because NCN does not have a social media policy from which it can institute disciplinary action.

Meanwhile, a delegation from the Ministry of Social Protection also met a management team from NCN on Wednesday to discuss employment relations pertaining to the two staff.

The Ministry’s team included Minister of Social Protection Volda Lawrence, Minister within the Ministry Keith Scott, Chief Labour Officer, Mr. Charles Ogle and Consultant Francis Carryl. Among those representing NCN were its CEO Lennox Cornette, Programme Manager Ron Robinson and Tishikta De Costa, the Human Resource Manager.
The Ministry did not say what the outcome of the meeting was.