Photograph © 2008 The Daily Mail(pictured left) Photograph of Jo Burgin, a journalist who is suing her former employer, Al-Jazeera over claims of racial, sexist, and religious discrimination.
By Gillian Arndt
Jo Burgin, a former journalist for Al-Jazeera, is suing the news station for £1million after claiming she was fired for being a 'white, Christian, British female' according to The Guardian and Daily Mail.
An Al-Jazeera English lawyer, Ingrid Simler QC, countered claims made by former executive Jo Burgin by highlighting the appointments of a couple women to other senior roles.
Burgin, who was once the head of planning for the channel, was dismissed in April 2007 when her fixed two-year contract in Doha, Qatar was not renewed.
Today, Simler, representing Al-Jazeera English countered Burgin’s claims at the London tribunal hearing by highlighting the appointment of Kate Ivans and Sue Philips who were both given senior roles in the company.
Simler said these appointments did not fit in Burgin’s picture of the company as one that "does not accept or employ woman in senior positions".
During cross-examination of Burgin, Simler also pointed out that in Doha, Al-Jazeera has employed 74 women out of a staff around 170. Five of the six news editors are women.
She was let go after violating the “family policy” at the company since her husband, Steve Clark, also works there. Burgin contends that Al-Jazeera turns a blind eye towards Muslim couples according to the Daily Mail.
The full hearing will begin on September 9.
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