Former TVNZ Breakfast host Kamahl Santamaria has spoken out about alleged inappropriate behaviour that led to his abrupt departure from his short stint on the show.
Santamaria also revealed more allegations of harassment were about to emerge.
In May, Santamaria resigned from his role as a Breakfast presenter just 32 days after he started. The former Al Jazeera journalist resigned amid reports of a complaint of inappropriate behaviour in his past role.
"I want to apologise for any and all behaviour that may have made anyone feel uncomfortable at any time," Santamaria said in a statement, published online. "It has been mortifying to discover my actions have caused people to feel uncomfortable around me.
"Now, a Singapore-based journalist with the BBC (who was formerly an Al Jazeera producer in Doha) has emailed me with a number of allegations from my time at Al Jazeera, which would be published after 72 hours if I gave no response.
"The allegations are broad and with no particulars - making it difficult for anyone to respond to - so I will be as interested as anyone to read the article when it is published.
"None of this, of course, supersedes the fact that there are allegations to address, and that will be done through the proper channels in due course."
In May, a former colleague of Santamaria's at Al Jazeera alleged he tried to kiss her without consent and shared an inappropriate email she said he sent her.
In the email, which was seen by Newshub, Santamaria told his former co-worker: "There is no more attractive outfit on a woman than the white blouse/black skirt combo and YOU are making it work, baby."
"Between you and [another female colleague], I may just combust!"
The email's subject line was, "At the risk of embarrassing you", and it ended with "xxx". The message was sent in conjunction with several instances of unwanted physical advances in the workplace, its recipient said.
The woman who received the email at Al Jazeera told Newshub she eventually complained to management about Santamaria's behaviour. While she wasn't aware of what the consequences were, she said he subsequently ceased harassing her and instead ignored her in the workplace.
In his statement on Wednesday, Santamaria said: "What I've come to understand is that what I previously considered to be flirtatious, over-friendly, 'just a bit of banter', or simply within the bounds of acceptable in the prevailing newsroom culture was, in fact, not.
"As a journalist, and a person, I should have done better. I should have been better."
Following the Santamaria saga, an investigation was launched into TVNZ's hiring processes - which led to the resignation of news and current affairs head Paul Yurisich.
The reviewer, Margaret Robins, recommended the Crown entity update its harassment policy.
"TVNZ's promotion of its commitment to the Harassment Policy over the last five years has been reactive, not proactive," said Robins.
In addition to the independent review, TVNZ also had a senior employment lawyer undertake an evaluation of multiple policies - including those related to internal workplace complaints.
At the time, TVNZ chief executive Simon Power acknowledged processes weren't followed properly when hiring Santamaria.
"In the hiring of Kamahl Santamaria, the review stated the recruitment policy was not applicable to the hiring of key presenters, and therefore was not followed in this situation," Power said. "The review found ultimately that the fundamental problem was the failure of TVNZ's Recruitment Policy to provide a suitable process."
