At this rate, Sean Batty will be the only employable man on TV.
For it feels like new revelations unfold on a weekly basis, of presenters behaving so badly they are suddenly out of a job.
Yet the behaviour is anything but sudden, the allegations of improper conduct – from obscene and sexist language, to unwanted advances and flashing of body parts, said to be commonplace for years.
Rewind 10 years ago, however, and if you’d have said “Me Too”, chances are bosses would have said “you’re out”.
The world of a presenter and that of their crew can be worlds apart.
Take Gregg Wallace and Gino D’Acampo. (Both have been accused of improper conduct, which they strongly deny).
I’ve met both fleetingly.
Gino on the set of This Morning many years ago – he was hungover but friendly; Gregg quite recently. He pointed at me and said “great dress” and that was that.
But for those who work with them day in and out, these two men exist in a vortex far from reality.
Fronting prime time evening shows with mega budgets, cars await, make up artists powder their noses and a wardrobe expert plans what colour of shirt will best suit their complexion.
Meanwhile, on the studio floor, the runner on work experience knows they have to turn this into paid work or they can’t afford their bedsit on the outskirts of London. The researcher is on a three-month contract with no idea if it will be renewed.
Some are permanent staff but many more are not – and no one has the presenter’s luxury of a golden handshake deal.
The industry has been challenging for a few years now, with many forced to leave it altogether.
I know of one respected director who – after six months unemployed because of a lack of shows being made – started delivering for Evri. A production assistant working in a call centre, another in a bar.
As someone who has worked in media since the age of 21, first across tabloids then radio and TV, I’ve seen a lot.
I have had the odd unwanted hand on my waist or knee, some choice language that could most definitely be classed as sexist, but I batted it back and that was that.
I viewed it as life – not necessarily part of media life. For no matter what job you’ve had – whether bar work, cleaning, medical, legal – chances are, as a woman, you’ve faced challenging behaviour.
Yet it’s not a one size fits all. I was lucky – I was never mentally scarred or scared.
While in my twenties, a female colleague wrote an expose on what it was like to work on a tabloid – the sexism and outdatedness of it all and I thought how odd that was, that she sat next to me and had what I thought was the same experience but it read like a different world.
I saw the culture as a meritocracy and fun – where the two combined and you worked hard to great reward and had a brilliant time. She did not.
And yet, I read the details of what these men in the firing line are alleged to have said and done and am horrified.
Perhaps it’s because I view it now through the eyes of a mum; those of someone who had to have a bit of a hard shell and now have softened immeasurably.
Those who defend the men in the spotlight say it’s a wokery at its finest – and ask if we are now going to cancel people for a bit of banter.
But it’s not banter, is it? And no allowances should be made for celebrity.
Sexism is not new but victims are now being heard
In the actual real world, I have an abiding memory of popping in unexpectedly to the Club Bar in Dundee to surprise my grandad. He was, let’s say, well on the way with his dominoes pals and they were the epitome of gentlemen, opening doors, making room at the table, ensuring I had a drink.
They’d have been the same to any woman and any talking down to any female would not have been tolerated.
It is a misconception that sexism was rife and only now is getting better.
Old school manners are not new. There has always been a minority in any walk of life who behave wrongly. What’s new is that those calling it out can finally have their voices heard.
That is has taken so long is baffling.
In the here and now, I know of no man who behaves in the way these TV personalities are said to have. And herein lies another issue – the evidence is largely unknown.
We can only imagine broadcasters are axing their biggest names because the weight of evidence is huge. But we must ensure people are not cancelled by social media and allegation alone.
It is right they are taken off air. But if these men protest their innocence, it is a fundamental right is to be viewed as innocent until proven guilty.
We are in this mess because the truths of many were not heard.
The future of these men must depend on actual truth – else we deny them justice too.
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