The BBC has responded to complaints about its coverage of the recent scandal surrounding Phillip Schofield.
The former ITV presenter has been the subject of numerous headlines following his exit from This Morning, and subsequent admission that he had an affair with a younger colleague on the show.
Last month, Phillip sat down with the BBC’s Amol Rajan for a filmed interview, which was available to watch on iPlayer, with excerpts given prominent positions on the broadcaster’s news bulletins.
The level of coverage the story received was the subject of at least 100 complaints to the BBC, according to Metro, which the corporation has now defended.
In a statement on its official complaints site, the BBC said: “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.
“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 BBC also said that a 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 continued.
“However, we realise not everyone will agree with the stories we decide to cover or the prominence we give them.”
ITV has instructed a barrister to carry out an external review of the facts following Phillip’s This Morning exit and subsequent press statements.
Holly Willoughby has since returned to the ITV daytime show without her former co-host, and is now presenting alongside existing members of the This Morning family, including Josie Gibson, Craig Doyle and Dermot O’Leary.