The BBC has hit back at complaints over its coverage of Phillip Schofield’s resignation from ITV over lying about an affair with a younger colleague.
Shorly after leaving ITV daytime show This Morning, which he had hosted for more than 20 years, Schofield, 61, admitted lying about the affair which he described as “unwise, but not illegal”.
The BBC covered the story heavily with the presenter then giving the broadcaster his first TV interview when he sat down with journalist Amol Rajan.
During the interview he opened up about how his relationship with his former co-host and friend Holly Willoughby was now in tatters.
He also confessed that he believed his TV career was over and described himself as “broken” having “lost everything”.
After receiving at least 100 complaints due to the sheer volume of coverage, the BBC has now been forced to respond on its official complaints site.
“Our coverage of the circumstances surrounding Phillip Schofield’s resignation from ITV focused on the serious implications of this story, with allegations that abuse of power and bullying took place at Britain’s biggest commercial broadcaster,” it said in a statement.
“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.
“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.
“Given the significance of the claims being made about Mr Schofield, it was fair to give him a right of reply. We made clear this was his account of events.
“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 BBC 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,” the statement concluded.
“However, we realise not everyone will agree with the stories we decide to cover or the prominence we give them.”
