News anchor fired for un-PC words:
TORONTO (January 18, 2000 6:51 a.m. EST nandotimes.com) - A Canadian television network fired a news anchorwoman after she made comments on disabled and ethnic minorities without realizing she was on the air.
CTV News announced the dismissal of Avery Haines on Monday, after receiving complaints from viewers.
Haines had been having difficulty reading a script during a CTV Newsnet broadcast on Saturday. Apparently mocking her mistakes, she said: "I kind of like the stuttering thing. It's like equal opportunity, right?"
"We've got a stuttering newscaster. We've got the black, we've got the Asian, we've got the woman. I could be a lesbian, folk-dancing, black woman stutterer."
She apologized twice on air during the day. Nevertheless, CTV News issued a news release Monday announcing Haines had been fired.
"The nature of her comments did not leave CTV News with any alternative," said Henry Kowalski, the vice president of CTV News.
Tom Curzon, vice president of corporate communications at CTV, said Haines began working as an anchor for CTV Newsnet, a national all-news channel, two months ago. He was unable to provide her age.
Advocacy groups said Monday that Haines' comments showed that bigotry against minorities exists in Canada.
"I find it disturbing that Avery Haines' remarks are only attracting attention because she was caught in the act," said Moy Tam, executive director of the Canadian Race Relations Foundation. "Would CTV even consider apologizing for her comments if she had made them off the air?"
Kowalski said Haines showed "considerable journalistic talent," and that CTV regretted having to dismiss her.
"However, her remarks were disrespectful and unprofessional and cannot be excused," he said.
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