Women Who Allege Abuse in Media Still Not Protected, Lisa Nandy Warns

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has said the media industry continues to struggle with exploitation and abuse, and that institutions still fail to deal properly with allegations, speaking in the wake of Russell Brand's conviction for rape and sexual assault.

Brand was found guilty on Thursday of raping one woman and sexually assaulting three others, and is due to be sentenced on Monday. The verdicts have reignited scrutiny of how Britain's entertainment industry has handled celebrities accused of misusing their power, with some women saying they feared going public could damage their careers. It also emerged after the verdicts that Brand is under investigation over two further rape allegations.

Asked in an interview with the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme whether she believed a problem persisted in the media and creative industries, Nandy did not hesitate. "Yes, I do, and I think hand on heart I can't say to you as the culture secretary that this is not happening today. In fact, if I had to wager, I would say it is," she said.

She said her view rested on the way institutions respond when women report mistreatment. "The biggest reason I say that, and I won't say it lightly, is because I do not see that much has changed in terms of the way that institutions in the media industry and across public life, including politics, deal with women who very bravely come forward to allege abuse. I think they're not protected."

Nandy pointed to structural conditions that discourage women from speaking up. "I think that they work in industries like politics and media where the power imbalances are huge, where they're often on short-term flexible contracts, and where who you know and reputation is often the key to career advancement. Speaking up has a very heavy cost."

The culture secretary credited the BBC with taking action in recent years, including signing up to the Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority, a whistleblowing body, but said the corporation could still do more. She was sharper about organisations that had made no such moves.

"There are other institutions that haven't done that, and time is up," she said. "It really is time for the media industry to take this seriously and to put those practices into action."

Nandy had earlier told Sky News Sunday Morning that the government was weighing what additional measures it could introduce to safeguard whistleblowers in such situations.

She said last week that the Brand case should serve as a wake-up call to the media world and beyond, following widespread concern about repeated failures to confront his behaviour before the charges were brought.