Bullying in the media

In May 2013, the Federation of Entertainment Unions (FEU) — made up of the journalists’ NUJ union, entertainment union BECTU, Musician’s Union (MU), the Writers’ Guild and the actors’ union Equity — launched a campaign to expose bullying in entertainment and broadcasting workplaces. The campaign launch coincided with the BBC’s announcement that it would overhaul its bullying and harassment policy, in conjunction with its trade unions, following the Respect at Work Review carried out by Dinah Rose QC. This uncovered a culture where inappropriate behaviour had gone unchallenged at the BBC, where junior staff felt too scared to complain and where staff had no confidence that HR would act fairly and independently.

The review was set up in the wake of the Jimmy Savile sexual abuse scandal and received submissions from more than 930 individuals including past and present staff, as well as the NUJ and BECTU. It found that while incidents of sexual harassment were rare, there was evidence of inappropriate behaviour and bullying, with some staff fearful of raising complaints. It said that the BBC needed to be clearer about the behaviour it expects from managers, staff, freelancers and “talent”; and when issues do arise, they need to be tackled more quickly. Dinah Rose made a series of recommendations which the BBC executive board accepted in full. These included:

• reworking the BBC’s bullying and harassment policy in conjunction with the unions to focus more on informal rather than formal resolution;

• publicising the routes for support for bullying or harassment issues widely, including all HR contacts, and the employee counselling service;

• launching a confidential helpline for support with bullying or harassment issues; and

• changing the way bullying and harassment complaints are heard.

At the end of 2013, the FEU published the results of a survey, based on the responses of more than 4,000 members, which identified media and entertainment workplaces as bullying, harassment and discrimination “hot spots”.

The NUJ reported: “The main factors were the competitive nature of the work, which is often seen as glamorous, and the large number of freelances who have less protection than staff. Most worrying was the almost tacit acceptance that bullying is part of the creative process and the creative industries, plus a work culture which allows ‘stars’ to behave in ways unacceptable to most people.”

The survey’s key findings were as follows:

• on average 56% of respondents had been bullied, harassed or discriminated against at work;

• 52% of respondents across all sectors had witnessed bullying, harassment or discrimination in their workplace;

• more than two-thirds of respondents working in television, radio, film, national and local newspapers reported ill-treatment;

• all respondents in local newspapers reported being bullied, harassed or discriminated against at work;

• women were more vulnerable to direct bullying and discrimination than men: 64% compared to 49% of men. In addition, 34% of women who identified gender or sexuality as a factor in their ill-treatment and disclosed details of it, reported sexual harassment. One in 10 workers in theatre, television and film witnessed sexuality-related harassment;

• age was a significant factor, with those in the youngest and oldest age groups being most affected; just over half (51%) of those aged 51-60 and 16-30 experienced bullying, harassment or discrimination because of age; and

• of those who were happy with the outcome of their case, 45% had involved their union.

In October 2014, the FEU produced a code of conduct on bullying, harassment and discrimination in the workplace, together with a set of guidelines for staff and freelance workers (see Chapter 6).

In December 2014, Equity reported that a survey of its members working as stunt performers in the film and TV industry had uncovered shocking levels of bullying and sexual harassment. The survey, commissioned by the Joint Industry Stunt Committee, found that nearly 50% of respondents had frequently or sometimes been the subject of bullying, 47% believed that sexual harassment was an issue at work, nearly 80% reported being subjected to insulting behaviour or words, but most victims did not report it. The most common reason for not reporting bullying or harassment was fear of never being offered work again. Respondents also reported feeling depressed, frightened and undermined after being bullied or harassed.