Summary of complaint
We received complaints from people who feel we have given too much coverage to the situation related to Phillip Schofield’s resignation from ITV.
Our response
Our coverage of the circumstances surrounding Phillip Schofield’s resignation from ITV focussed on the serious implications of this story, with allegations that abuse of power and bullying took place at Britain’s biggest commercial broadcaster.Ìý Phillip Schofield has been a fixture on British television for nearly four decades, however, this is not a story about celebrity, but about safeguarding procedures, professional conduct and workplace culture.
The questions raised over what ITV management had known about these issues at the time have led to the network commissioning an external independent KC led review.Ìý ITV’s chief executive Dame Carolyn McCall has also been asked to attend Parliament to answer questions from the Culture, Media and Sport Committee on this matter.Ìý
Given the significance of the claims being made about Mr Schofield, it was fair to give him a right of reply.Ìý We made clear this was his account of events.Ìý Amol Rajan used his interview with Mr Schofield to scrutinise the allegations about his conduct, while maintaining the duty of care that we have to all our interviewees. The write-up of the interview has been one of the most read pieces on the Â鶹ԼÅÄ News website in the past month, with more than five million page views.
We believe our reporting of this story has been proportionate, reflecting the gravity of the issues at hand.Ìý However, we realise not everyone will agree with the stories we decide to cover or the prominence we give them.
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