TV3 broadcaster Bridget Otoo continues to hit back against reports of her suspension and its original author, Ameyaw Debrah, threatening legal action in her latest public pronouncement on the matter.
Reports during the week from the celebrity blogger had claimed that Otoo, who has been absent from the screens of TV3 for a while now, had been suspended for unprofessional conduct, including fighting with her co-host and showing poor attitude towards management and guests of the station.Otoo issued a short rebuttal on twitter Thursday, but in a lengthy Facebook post this morning (Saturday), she gets more into detail on her course of action going forward.
According to her, although Ameyaw Debrah has privately apologised to her, he refuses to retract the story and issue a public apology.
Otoo said the story was a calculated attempt to tarnish her reputation and that she’s exploring the possibility of legal action.
Read what she wrote…
IGNORE AMEYAW DEBRAH’S FALSE PUBLICATIONS ABOUT ME
In the last 24 to 36 hours, my attention was drawn to a palpably false publication by Ameyaw Debrah on his portal www.ameyawdebrah.com and sister portal www.pulseghana.com claiming I have been suspended from TV3 for “unprofessional conduct”. The false story was published on other news portals including www.peacefmonline.com and www.yen.gh.com.
The unsubstantiated claims in the publications were malicious, deliberately orchestrated and calculated to hurt my person and professional image. It is a gross disrespect to the ethics of journalism and truthful reporting.
I contacted Ameyaw Debrah personally to express my displeasure about the false publication and asked him to publish a retraction and apology. Although he admitted he was wrong and claim he was “carried away by the rumours” and apologised to me privately, he has since refused to retract the story and publish the apology on his platform. I am surprised he cares about how damaging the retraction of the story will be to his reputation, but does not care about hurting my reputation.
I consider this kind of unrepentant conduct by Ameyaw Debrah grossly unprofessional.
For the records, I am not on suspension from TV3. There is no disciplinary action against me. I have not shown disrespect to any guests or visitors to TV3. I have not fought with any of my colleagues at TV3. Those who know me, know I cannot do anything like that. As a consummate professional, I have excellent personal and professional relationships with all my colleagues, including Moonn Sangmor.
As the busy election period approaches, journalists will not be able to go on leave. So I decided to take my accumulated leave ahead of the hurly-burly period of the political campaign coverage. That cannot be equated to suspension.
I feel offended by the publications and I have instructed my lawyers to take the necessary actions to cure the mischief against me.