Ghanaian broadcaster, Bridget Otoo has opened up about the circumstances that led Media General, TV3 to take her off air in 2016.
Speaking on The KSM Show, she revealed that her outspoken views and criticisms, particularly regarding the IEA debate, were the main reasons for her removal.
According to her, organizers of the IEA debate at that time wrote a complaint to the board of directors at TV3 regarding her criticisms. They suggested she had undue influence over her colleagues.
“Unfortunately, while I was working, even at TV3, for instance, I think my opinion on the IEA debate, and I said it was not useful, I didn’t think that it made any impact on our elections. I remember there was then the person was not a professor, it was a doctor then, the current Jean Mensa who was with IEA, you know, her people wrote this stinker to the board of TV3 at the time that I seemed to have a certain influence over the presenters that I work with. You know, I said no,” she stated.
She added that the backlash from her IEA debate comments prompted the then CEO of TV3 to intervene and asked her to be nice to the “nice to these NPP people”.
“The CEO at the time called me and said, ‘Look, be nice to these NPP people.’ I got the impression that they were all pro-NPP, and it’s fine; we all have our biases. But I said, ‘Look, I’m going to say what I feel I want to say. Nobody pays me.’
Brigdet Otoo stated that she defended her stance, saying, “If I’m presented with someone and they cannot hold their argument or hold them to account, it’s not because I am putting a gun to anybody’s head. If you think my arguments are so solid that they convince you, then I am just doing a good job at articulating why I think it is not prudent.”
She stated that the conversation with her boss didn’t go well and that was when “they took me off air”.
Reflecting on the experience, Bridget Otoo noted a recurring pattern at the station, stating that, “I think they’ve tried that now even with Johnny Hughes and a few others. When they think you are going a certain way and they don’t like it, they take you off air. They literally halt your career.”
According to her, leaving TV3 made her appreciate social media more because it gave her control over her own narrative.
She added that people follow her for her views and thoughts, not just because she was on television. That’s why, even today, she values her presence on social media more than being on TV.
“Those experiences made me love social media more because then I had control over my own narrative. People follow me because of my views and thoughts, not because I sat on television. That’s why even to this day I value my presence on social media more than being on television.”
“After we had launched our election campaign, they had done billboards and everything. TV3 went to the extent of removing my face from all the billboards just to prove a point that they didn’t align with my views,” she narrated.
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