Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Brussels: Weather report in a burka

The board of the regional broadcaster Télé Bruxelles will sound out the head of the administration council and the general manger for having a woman in a burka present the weather forecast yesterday.

An internal investigation has been started by the broadcaster. The Brussels French speaking liberals say they are "disgraced" by the broadcast.



Since November the broadcaster has been enabling viewers the opportunity to present the weather report. In yesterday's broadcast it was presented by Fadila, wearing a burka, with only her eyes visible.

Brussels parliament member and councillor Nathalie Gilson asks what supervision Télé Bruxelles has over broadcasts. She mentions that wearing a burka is not permitted in Brussels. According to the general manager of Télé Bruxelles, Marc De Haan, it is not a burka, but "somebody with a veil on the head and in front of the face."

De Haan says the segment should not have been broadcast since it's of the sort that shocks people. The programme was made by an external producers, but the internal supervision clearly hadn't worked properly.

Source: HLN (Dutch), h/t NRP (Dutch)