Journalist claims she was subjected to campaign of harassment and ‘false imprisonment’
A BBC journalist was called a ‘shih tzu’ in an email from her head of department to 16 managers, a tribunal considering claims of discrimination and victimisation has heard.
The email, sent by Mick Rawsthorne, head of BBC East, referred to a story Sally Chidzoy was investigating about the Dangerous Dogs Act and calling her ‘Sally shih tzu’ was meant as a “phonetic play on her name”, the tribunal heard.
But Chidzoy, the BBC’s home affairs correspondent for the east of England, said the term was insulting and sexist. “I think a boss sending out an email like this about a woman is disgraceful – it’s disgusting,” she told the tribunal. “I was very upset. My boss was calling me a shit and a dog, and sending it out to 16 managers.”
“The email was not sent to me but when it was forwarded to me five days later it [the shih tzu comment] had been removed,” Chidzoy added. “It was sent to 16 managers and not one manager told me about it or came to me and said: ‘Sally, have you seen this?’”
BBC representative Sophie Belgrove told the tribunal that a male reporter with the same name as Chidzoy could have had the same comments made about him. But Chidzoy replied: “I think it’s barking.”
The tribunal, which took place in Cambridge, also heard that Chidzoy, who has worked for the BBC for 30 years, was signed off work with stress after claiming she was bullied by managers for investigating allegations that the BBC Look East team’s editorial independence had been compromised. She claims she has been the victim of discrimination, victimisation and sexual harassment.
Chidzoy told the tribunal that, in 2013, she began an investigation into a charity called the Centre for Business and Public Sector Ethics that was being funded by the Chinese government. When she called the charity for a comment, she was directed to spokesperson Nikki O’Donnell, who was also a news editor at BBC Look East and Chidzoy’s line manager.
Chidzoy told the tribunal that after she raised concerns about O’Donnell’s impartiality, O’Donnell began a “campaign” to undermine her that included collecting Chidzoy’s communications and sending them to the HR department.
The tribunal also heard that Chidzoy had been investigating the salary package of East of England Ambulance Service boss Anthony Marsh in 2014 when BBC assistant editor Steve Silk received an email from MP Norman Lamb, the then Liberal Democrat health minister, that noted his “real concern about the potential damage” the story could cause. In evidence, Chidzoy said she felt the MP was “attempting to stop a broadcast”.
Disciplinary proceedings began against Chidzoy after she raised the issue of the MP’s alleged interference, and after an email from Lamb to Silk was leaked to a newspaper. The tribunal heard that managers then tried to take Chidzoy’s phone and “falsely imprisoned” her at a meeting in September 2014 when she refused to hand over the device. She was later cleared of the leak but disciplined for sending his email to BBC colleagues.
The tribunal, which is expected to last three weeks, continues.