PA MEDIA
https://tinyurl.com/2t2d7fxh – facts so far – By Jemma Crew & Simon Jones
Why is there such a huge reaction to the fact Phillip Schofield had an affair with a young male member of crew? Surely that’s just his and his ex-wife’s business? Is the reaction homophobic? Would there have been this much fuss if that member of crew had been a young woman?
However, they did meet whilst the junior member of crew was underage. Nadine wants to know how exactly did the young man get his job with ‘This Morning‘? Was it safeguarding younger members of the crew that resulted in ITV asking Schofield about this relationship or questions from journalists? If there is a huge difference in the power of those getting involved, then it should be questioned. What would ITV have done if Schofield had admitted at the time that he and this junior member of crew were having an affair? Sacked the junior member of crew no doubt! In the event, the young crew member was moved to ‘Loose Women.’
Something about this scandal reminds me of Jonathan Ross losing his job with the BBC. Prior to Ross/Brand scandal – ringing actor Andrew Sachs Brand telling Sachs that he had slept with Sachs’s grandaughter – spiteful bad taste – 2 grown men behaving like nasty boys of ten. However, what marked the scandal was the fact that Jonathan Ross had said that the £millions the BBC paid him at that time were worth the thousands of journalists who were being made redundant. People always make their worst mistakes when being their most arrogant! When he was then part of the Brand scandal, journalists were going to make sure the BBC sacked him as a result. What goes around comes around!
What Phillip Schofield is really like is now going to matter – are the people who have worked with him going to stand by him, reveal what he’s really like or just watch him sink? If I was an advertiser with ITV I’d want them to run an anonymous survey with all those freelance and staff who have worked on “This Morning” for the last five years to ascertain whether or not there has been a toxic culture and who exactly was the source. I’m not saying that there was or that Schofield is a source, but considering the explosion, I’d want that survey. Now many NDAs has ITV been getting leavers to sign? I’d also demand a look at all exit interviews with people leaving ‘This Morning’. Employers who don’t do exit interviews invariably have something to hide – at the very least, the fact they don’t care how the people who have worked for them feel about the experience. As long as the ratings are high, who cares about the culture? I think we might be about to find out.
#ThisMorning #PhilipScofield
