Mediacorp investigating workplace sexism allegations

SINGAPORE: Mediacorp is investigating claims made by an employee that she was on the receiving end of sexist remarks by a co-worker, it said on Friday (Oct 6).

The Channel NewsAsia producer who made the complaints shared screengrabs of a WhatsApp conversation that allegedly took place between herself and a co-worker on Facebook, with the caption “Sexism in 2017”.

In the conversation, she confronted her co-worker over comments he allegedly made telling her she could not be a presenter because of her physical attributes and that “girls shouldn’t be too smart for their own good”.

“You can say they are jokes. But it is really an insult to all the hard work I’ve put in to get here,” she wrote. In response, the person apologised and said it was “meant as a joke” and that “it’s how the industry works”.

“It was just industry talk on my side. I was not intentionally being rude or sexist,” he also said.

In a separate post, the producer said the incident was not a “one off case”, listing several other incidents she claimed she had encountered at the company.

The producer’s comments were picked up on social media and appeared in articles on  several websites.

In response to Channel NewsAsia queries, Mediacorp said it does not condone sexism in the workplace and takes a very serious view of the matter.

The media conglomerate confirmed that the person who allegedly made the sexist remarks is an employee, and said there had been no complaints against him before this.

Before posting the screengrabs on her Facebook page, the employee had informed her supervisor of the exchange between herself and her co-worker, after which her supervisor immediately asked her to provide full details to assist in the investigation, Mediacorp said.

The producer is currently on leave and the company will interview her when she is back at work, it said. 

“We will conclude our investigations before deciding on the appropriate actions to be taken,” it added.