Entertainment

Campaigner calls for change in TV industry following Weinstein scandal

Kate Kinninmont, chief executive of Women In Film And Television, said the allegations were a wake-up call for all industries.
Kate Kinninmont, chief executive of Women In Film And Television, said the allegations were a wake-up call for all industries. Kate Kinninmont, chief executive of Women In Film And Television, said the allegations were a wake-up call for all industries.

The TV and film industries must “professionalise” in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal, a campaigner for women in the media has said.

Kate Kinninmont, chief executive of Women In Film And Television, said the allegations had been a wake-up call for all industries.

In the wake of the scandal, she received more than 100 testimonies from people about inappropriate behaviour they had experienced.

“It’s something I’m very concerned about,” Kinninmont said.

“Quite a lot of people had told somebody” but their comments would be dismissed and they would be told “he does that with everybody”, she told the Westminster Media Forum.

“We have to have a zero tolerance of people touching each other unnecessarily without permission.

“People should not be getting interviews for jobs in a bar with one person, or a hotel room.

“There is a thing about professionalising our industry … Very often people are not quite sure if they’re having an interview or not because somebody says ‘meet for a coffee’, or they’re having lunch with them.

“If it’s a job interview, let it be a job interview with more than two people… It’s not rocket science, it’s just what other industries do.”

Weinstein, who is being investigated by police in the UK, Los Angeles and New York, has denied engaging in “non-consensual sexual conduct”.