Woe is ITV in many ways just now, but especially in Tyne Tees, where its newsroom is at the centre of a bullying scandal that has cost the company about £1m. ITV would appear to be in urgent need of an experienced PR, not to mention some cast-iron media, legal and professional training.
The Guardian has the story, one of racism, sexism and inappropriate comments about ethnic minorities and disabled people. They were allegedly made by a manager, who claimed he was merely indulging in some “black humour”, but his not-so-merry japes were practised by other staff, too.
Some £400,000 is thought to have been paid in compensation, while an ITV source says that “The total time spent off on sick leave or suspensions amounts to five years – the equivalent of around £250,000 in sick pay just while they were off work. If you add the legal costs, plus all the management consultants, independent investigators brought in and the appeals which went with those investigations the total bill is £1m.”
The result? In the short term, ITV desperately needs an experienced PR to manage this crisis and, if there is any, disseminate some good news. Beyond that, a reappraisal of its working culture might not be a bad idea.
Pictured courtesy of Flickr user chearn73: a bad joke. It is thought, however, that it wasn’t black enough for the Tyne Tees newsroom.
For a certain poet, an unspoiled stretch of seaside was like “the holy hush there is in the land on Christmas morning. The roads fairly empty, the sky almost free of aeroplanes and you begin to hear and see and smell once more”.
But who uttered these lines?
(It’s a Monday, and this is your starter for 10 – and yes, we’re fresh to the metropolis, from a coastal sojourn.)
The following words appeared in a Times article in 2003, about the paper’s recently departed Head of Legal, Alastair Brett. They’ve been doing the rounds in the wake of Brett’s sudden exit last week, though without attribution. Who, we wonder, wrote them? Two suspects present themselves – our own occasional scribe, Alex Wade, and Dominic Carman, son of the late, great George (an old mucker of Brett’s). Or was someone else the author? Whatever: the fact remains that Brett was a fearless, tenacious and excellent newspaper lawyer, a man whose commitment to press freedom coursed through every vein in his body. We don’t know the precise reasons for his departure, but he will be missed.
“[He] is known for his impassioned commitment to press freedom – so impassioned that he has been described as “certifiably insane”. Capable of an intimidatory snarl or two, and prepared to be stubborn, Brett is far from mad. He is erudite, charming (so the ladies say), and not known for sitting on the fence. If his sanity has, tongue firmly in cheek, been questioned, one thing not open to doubt is that Brett epitomises the old school Fleet Street lawyer”.
Pictured: Fleet Street - not the same as it used to be.
A curious observation leaps at us from Roy Greenslade’s piece about whether Conrad Black, shortly to roam the high-class hotels of the world again as a free man, will return to the UK and carry out his threat to sue his biographer, Tom Bower, for libel:
I somehow doubt that he would have the appetite, or the funds, to pursue a libel action, but Black marches to the sound of his own drummer, so he might just do that. Even if he did, my money would still be on Bower winning.
Hang on, Roy – what about suing via a no win, no fee deal? Funds or no funds, a CFA would see Conrad through – though maybe he’ll remember what happened to the last press baron who sued Bower. Anyone for Richard Desmond’s curious dalliance with libel?
Pictured: the kind of place in which Conrad Black may be spotted (if not at the Royal Courts of Justice).
Surfing and the favelas: how they’re connected
All OK for Desmond and Five
Heading for an airport tonight? Your experience may be different in future…
Released almost a year ago, Spada’s groundbreaking research report, British Professions Today, is available for free download
In this article, Gavin Ingham Brooke and Rohit Grover of Spada examine the importance of marketing and PR in a downturn.
In the latest of our series of white papers, Spada Research examines trends in environmental reporting.
A good decision is based on knowledge and not on numbers.
Πλάτων, Greek philosopher.