ITV boss says 'nothing to hide' amid Phillip Schofield inquiry

ITV boss says broadcaster has ‘nothing to hide’ amid inquiry after Phillip Schofield left This Morning

• Managing director Kevin Lygo confirmed they are co-operating with the inquiry 

ITV’s managing director Kevin Lygo has said the broadcaster does not have ‘anything to hide’ as he confirmed they are co-operating with the independent inquiry being undertaken after the Phillip Schofield scandal.

Schofield exited ITV’s This Morning programme and the broadcaster itself in May after admitting to having an ‘unwise but not illegal’ relationship with a younger male former colleague. 

His departure also sparked further allegations the programme was fostering a bullying culture that had been described as toxic. 

Jane Mulcahy KC is currently leading an external review of the facts after Schofield’s departure which is expected to be completed in September. 

Speaking at the Edinburgh TV Festival, Lygo said ‘everything is available’ to Mulcahy including ‘every single email, WhatsApp, text’ that have been sent by key people involved in the situation including himself.

Kevin Lygo has said the broadcaster does not have ‘anything to hide’ as he confirmed they are co-operating with the independent inquiry being undertaken after the Phillip Schofield scandal

Schofield exited ITV’s This Morning programme after admitting to having an affair with a younger male colleague

He continued: ‘So, everything is available, lots of interviews, talking to everybody and I hope as soon as possible, but probably in September, she will make that public.’ 

Addressing how ITV handles duty of care, he added: ‘We do, trust me, take it incredibly seriously.

‘We haven’t got anything to hide and if we can adapt and change our process to make it better, then we should do it on a continuing basis.’

Asked whether he would consider a cross-broadcaster initiative, Lygo said he feels these projects can become complicated and he thinks ITV is leading the way with duty-of-care policies due to their shows like Love Island.

He added that he thinks it is a ‘good thing’ these potential issues with talent and production are being assessed as he noted that ’10 years ago this wasn’t even on the agenda’.

READ MORE: This Morning staff faced ‘further bullying and discrimination’ after raising concerns over toxicity and harassment at ITV in wake of Phillip Schofield scandal 

During the opening debate on Wednesday at the festival – titled Who Holds The Power In TV? – a panel reflected on how a number of issues with high-profile presenters have arisen lately. 

Jon Thoday, co-founding managing director of Avalon Entertainment, known for shows such as Taskmaster, Catastrophe and Starstruck, told the event: ‘If you run a business, and there’s something or somebody’s doing something wrong, it’s unusual not to know about it, and I think that, for me, it was odd, some of the ITV stuff. 

‘I’m surprised they didn’t (know about Schofield). Maybe it’s such a big business that they didn’t, but I think in the end it’s management’s job to know what is going on.’ 

ITV bosses have previously said both Schofield and his younger lover ‘repeatedly denied’ allegations of a relationship until the former This Morning presenter departed from ITV and formally apologised. 

During the opening debate on Wednesday at the festival – titled Who Holds The Power In TV? – a panel reflected on how a number of issues with high-profile presenters have arisen

Phillip Schofield (pictured in June) left This Morning after he admitted he lied about having an affair an affair with a younger colleague 

ITV chief executive Dame Carolyn McCall told MPs that ‘we were repeatedly told nothing was happening’ and both men denied it ‘both formally and informally’. 

Other top presenter scandals include that of veteran BBC presenter Huw Edwards, who was taken off air after being accused of paying a young person for sexually explicit photos. 

The corporation came under fire for its handling of initial complaints against the newsreader and has launched a review into how it handles non-editorial complaints. 

Lygo said that recent instances with Schofield and Edwards had shown there needs to be a focus on ‘what’s going on behind the scenes’ as well as on camera. 

‘Ten years ago this wasn’t even on the agenda, so I think it’s a good thing that we’re all assessing the right way to treat people and a lot of it is common sense and decency,’ he added. 

READ MORE: Phillip Schofield enjoys a night out with Vanessa Feltz at trendy West London restaurant as friends say he is ‘quite certain’ he will never work again – despite predictions he could join her at TalkTV 

During the panel talk, Lygo also addressed how ITV would react if allegations were made against journalist Dan Wootton in relation to his time while working as a showbiz correspondent on ITV’s Lorraine. 

The GB News presenter has been accused of using a pseudonym and offering colleagues money for sexual material.

Asked whether ITV would also launch an inquiry into Wootton, Lygo said: ‘He doesn’t work for us any more, so that makes it complicated. We haven’t had any complaints, to my knowledge, about it.

‘If anything comes to light that was untoward whilst he was at Lorraine, which is quite a few years ago now, then, yes, we should have a look at it.’ 

Last month, TV presenter Wootton used his self-titled GB News programme to admit he had made ‘errors of judgment’ in the past but branded the ‘criminal allegations’ as ‘simply untrue’. 

LBC host Sangita Myska has said the abuse of power within the media industry is ‘not really about the talent’ but is an ‘absolute abject failure of management in any given situation’.

Former BBC presenter Myska said she has worked with ‘absolutely dreadful’ presenters, editors and producers during her career and feels the issue lies with how power can corrupt individuals.

She added: ‘This is not really about the talent per se, this is about the absolute abject failure of management in any given situation.

LBC host Sangita Myska (pictured) has said the abuse of power within the media industry is ‘not really about the talent’ but is an ‘absolute abject failure of management in any given situation’

‘What we know, it’s a truism throughout time, power corrupts – it just will. The way you check that is having a decent editorial structure, for example, where managers feel empowered to investigate things and take action.

‘If you don’t have a series of checks and balances that are robust, then you will see scandal after scandal.’

She hailed the MeToo movement, which began in America when women spoke out about the abuse they had faced in the media industry, as a ‘brilliant, wonderful, exciting game changer’.

‘We’ve now got a younger generation who feel empowered, and much more so than my generation, to speak up,’ she added.

‘This is really important, there are women who are now in senior positions. My door is genuinely open. People come to me all the time, they ask me for advice, I’ve offered to take issues up with people really quite senior in the industry.’

Myska said she feels this has helped ‘people who are vulnerable are increasingly feeling less vulnerable’.

Curve Media chief executive Camilla Lewis said she feels the landscape has ‘improved’ but still described is as a ‘terrifying industry’, adding: ‘It is run in a very male way and there is a lot of abuse of power going on daily.’

She said what her organisation tries to do is put out a survey every quarter so they can know if there is abuse going on.

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