Journalist accuses BBC World Service of racial bias
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Your support makes all the difference.The BBC World Service was once more forced to defend itself against accusations of racism yesterday, only weeks after it was described as an enclave ruled by men with a "colonial mentality".
Perry Grambas, 41, a Greek journalist who worked for the corporation for 10 years, was dismissed as his three-year-old son was undergoing treatment for cancer. The boy, Nicholas, pulled through and is now recovering. At an employment tribunal yesterday, Mr Grambas accused his former employer of discrimination, victimisation and unfair dismissal – all of which the BBC denies.
His case follows accusations of discrimination made by another journalist after she was repeatedly passed over for promotion. Sharan Sandhu told her tribunal in April that the newsroom was dominated by white, male "Oxbridge types or tabloid, drinking journalists". The BBC denied her claim and settled out of court.
Yesterday Mr Grambas told the Central London tribunal: "A BBC journalist is not any kind of job. It is a job which requires commitment, brain and heart. All I got from my employment after 10-and-a-half years was a kick in the teeth.
"My three-and-a-half-year-old son was struggling with cancer at the point when my employer dismissed me," he added. "I hope I will be vindicated so I and other colleagues, who have themselves been disadvantaged because they did not come from the mainstream – England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland – may in future have a better deal."
Mr Grambas worked for the BBC's Greek section on short-term contracts from 1991. When he lost his contract in 1999, he joined the BBC's news programme World Today until he was dismissed in January 2001.
Yesterday Mary Hockaday, editor of World Service News and Current Affairs, insisted Mr Grambas was dismissed because he was not up to the job.
As the then editor of World Today, she agreed to hire him on a "probationary" six-month contract in 1999. "I was aware of his family situation and took every effort to be sympathetic and understanding," she added.
She said that she was "surprised" when, at a meeting in December 1999, Mr Grambas complained of race discrimination, as the World Today team was made up of journalists from Europe and Asia.
The tribunal continues.
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