Following a meeting with the Chief Executive Officer of the National Communications Network, the Guyana Press Association has now issued a call for the Chairman of NCN and the Office of the Prime Minister to intervene and look into the operations of the state-owned radio and television network.

At the end of the meeting, the NCN CEO, Lennox Cornette agreed to have pregnant anchor, Natasha Smith returned as the main anchor of the nightly newscast. Smith was taken off air reportedly because of her pregnancy.

During the meeting, according to the GPA, the CEO denied that he gave any directive or instructions for Smith to be removed as anchor because of her pregnancy.

However, minutes of an August 8, 2016 management meeting of NCN, revealed that it was the CEO who recommended that Natasha Smith be temporarily removed from the anchor’s chair after he was told that she had objected to the close up shots that were now being taken of her during the news presentation.

The close up shots were recommended as a way to “remedy the view” of her pregnancy. Cameramen had been instructed to take shots of from her breast up.

The GPA has stated that Smith has since been contacted by the company’s Human Resources Manager and told that she could return to the anchor’s chair in her present pregnant state. She has agreed to return.

With regard to the suspension of Sports Editor, Jocelle Archibald-Hawke, over a Facebook post about a colleague and his pokemon question to the President, the GPA said the CEO is maintaining his position on the suspension although the company has no social media policy in place. He told the GPA executives that he has taken note of their concerns and their demand to rescind the suspension.

“Mr Cornette argued that the action taken against Mrs Archibald-Hawke was not only because of what she said about a colleague on Facebook, but about previous infractions management perceived, again many of which are not rooted in management directives or policy at NCN. The GPA argued that the sole reason given for Mrs Archibald-Hawke’s suspension was the issue of her comments on Facebook. We maintained that the suspension was harsh and needed to be rescinded. The CEO gave no undertaking to review the decision, but noted the GPA’s demand”, the GPA statement said.

The GPA said it should be noted that despite the CEO’s claims of previous infractions by Mrs Archibald-Hawke, “it was only about a month ago the Human Resources Department approved her gratuity in full, indicating no issues with her performance on the job.”

The Press body said it is left to no other conclusion “than that the management of NCN is instituting willy nilly sanctions against employees without these being grounded on any statement management directive or policy. We urge that this practice be discontinued forthwith.”

Some NCN managers have complained about the CEO’s high-handed position on various issues at the company. He reportedly ordered the one month no pay suspension of Archibald-Hawke despite the Human Resources Manager pointing out that it may be too harsh.

The HR Manager has also been pushing for the decision to be rescinded, but the CEO is holding firm to his position, according to sources at NCN.

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