It’s interesting how much of the news coverage of the ITV phone-in scandal has focused less on the £8m robbery of voting viewers and more on the fact that no-one has been sacked as a result.
ITV chairman Michael Grade, while acknowledging the “grisly” findings of the Deloitte report, said in interviews that he wasn’t planning to ask anyone to resign over the shambles. His intention was to get to the bottom of what happened. Instilling a culture of fear – or carrying out a witch hunt - was not the best way of achieving that, he said. (He subsequently admitted that disciplinary conversations were ongoing, and that perhaps his predecessor should have resigned at the time).
But that does not mean ITV will be able to draw a line under this.
The consequences could be far reaching: there may still be probes by police and Ofcom, not to mention the loss of trust from viewers.
The BBC, when faced with a similar scandal (when it faked the winner of a viewers poll to choose the name of a Blue Peter cat) sacked those involved and announced a zero tolerance attitude to any further deceptions.
If you uncovered a scandal to the tune of £8m in your business, would you look for someone to fire? Someone to fall nobly, and publicly, on their sword – before bosses or clients get their knives out? Or would you advise taking the softly, softly approach, where no-one gets hurt, and no-one takes responsibility? The repercussions of your decision could be very costly indeed.
