Nandy Says Media Industry Still Has Abuse Problem After Brand Verdict

UK Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has said the media industry still has a problem with exploitation and abuse, and that allegations are not always dealt with properly. She made the remarks on Sunday, 8 November, in an interview with the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme, days after the comedian and actor Russell Brand was found guilty of rape and sexual assault.

Brand, once a high-profile comedian and actor, was convicted after a four-week trial of raping a woman and sexually assaulting three others. He faces sentencing on Monday. BBC News reported the verdicts.

Nandy said that women who come forward to allege abuse are too often "not protected" by institutions across public life, including in politics. She said power imbalances in politics and media are huge, and that speaking up comes at a "very heavy cost". The Guardian reported her comments, which she also made in the BBC interview.

She told the media industry that "time is up" for bringing in systems to protect vulnerable whistleblowers. Nandy praised the BBC for signing up to the Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority, a whistleblowing body for the creative industries, and said the corporation had taken action in recent years. Other organisations, she said, still had to take the issue seriously.

On Sky News Sunday Morning, Nandy said the government was considering further steps to help protect whistleblowers. No decisions on those steps have been announced.

Nandy had earlier described the conviction as a "wake-up call", in remarks published on 6 November. The same day, police in the UK said Brand was likely to face more allegations following his conviction. Reuters reported the police comments.

After the verdicts, it also emerged that Brand was under investigation for two further rape allegations.