Lisa Nandy Warns Media Industry Could Be Forced to Improve
UK Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy is prepared to make the entertainment industry join a whistleblower body unless it improves safeguarding fast. She will meet TV, film and publishing leaders next week after the David Walliams allegations and Russell Brand's sentencing.
UK Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy is prepared to force the entertainment industry to improve safeguarding practices unless it changes quickly, ahead of a round-table meeting with industry leaders next week. The media industry could be forced to improve if its response is judged too weak.
Participation in the Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority (CIISA) is currently voluntary. The body tackles bullying and harassment in the sector through confidential whistleblowing. Making it mandatory is one option the government is weighing.
Two messages for industry leaders
Nandy will tell attendees to meet the moment, take responsibility and tackle safeguarding themselves. She will add that the government might have to intervene if their response is not good enough.
Representatives from TV, film, publishing and potentially sport are expected. It is not yet known which organisations will attend or what ministers will ask of them.
One government official said the expectation was voluntary action. "The instinct is that Lisa would like the industries to show they are about to sort this out themselves, but we are not squeamish about stepping in if that does not happen," the official said.
What triggered the meeting
Nandy summoned the leaders after allegations against entertainer David Walliams and the sentencing of Russell Brand. Brand was jailed for more than 10 years for rape and sexual assault.
A joint three-year investigation by the Guardian and ITV News alleged that several women accused Walliams of sexual misconduct and abuse of his position. Some say he groomed them as teenagers. The claims were published after he lost a legal bid to stop them.
Walliams, 55, denies all the allegations. In a letter to journalists he wrote: "I am not a sexual predator. I have not broken the law."
Nandy called the allegations "the latest in a long line of reported abuses of power" in an industry where power imbalances are huge.
Pressure over NDAs
Ministers also want tighter limits on non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), contracts that can stop people speaking out. Women and equalities minister Bridget Phillipson said there was "scope to go further" on the law.
"We cannot have a system where rich and powerful individuals - rich and powerful men - are able to silence women and stop things coming to light," she said.
Justice secretary Alex Norris told a parliamentary committee there was "a lot of concern" about powerful men using the legal system, including injunctions and NDAs, to silence accusers.
Olivia Bailey, the Labour MP who chairs the Commons women and equalities committee, wants CIISA properly funded. She also wants the existing ban on NDAs silencing harassment complaints extended beyond freelancers to volunteers and fans.
Zelda Perkins, founder of Can't Buy My Silence, said there were "not enough safeguards" around high-profile people in creative industries and that joining CIISA should be "mandatory". She broke an NDA in 2017 to speak publicly about Harvey Weinstein.
"There are no other regulatory bodies that are voluntary to join," Perkins said. "Obviously the people who need to be monitored are the people who are not joining."
