Dorothy Byrne, the former head of Channel 4 News, has revealed that one of her bosses told her she would be sexually assaulted on her very first day working in television. Byrne, who has worked in the TV industry for more than 45 years, made the admission during Monday's (November 9) instalment of Good Morning Britain.
Her appearance on the programme comes ahead of Russell Brand's sentencing, after the comedian, 51, was found guilty of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault.
Executives still turning a blind eye
During the interview, presenter Ed Balls questioned whether there are still executives working in the industry today who turn a blind eye to behaviour similar to Brand's.
"Definitely. There are still other men and may I say, there are executives," Byrne told Balls and his co-host Susanna Reid.
"It's not just presenters in TV who have done this, it's been television executives and senior managers. I've worked in TV for more than 45 years. I have been assaulted by managers and on one occasion in front of several people. The industry has just accepted this behaviour."
First-day warning
Byrne continued: "On my first day in TV, I was told by one of my bosses I would go out to learn filming and I would be sexually assaulted by the man who taught me. But I wasn't to take it personally because he sexually assaulted everybody and he did indeed assault me. But who was I going to report it to? Not my boss who had just told me to expect it. It's been an industry in which it has just been accepted that men could behave like this. So they did."
She described today as a "brilliant" day because Brand's victims will see him get sentenced in court.
Brand's convictions
Brand was found guilty of raping a fan after meeting her at one of his shows at Hammersmith Apollo in London in 2009. The actor was also found guilty of sexually assaulting an MTV worker in a Soho bar in 2004 and a Choice FM worker after encountering her in a corridor in 2005. He was also found guilty of sexually assaulting a Channel 4 worker during a forced massage in 2009.
"The industry has turned a blind eye to men like Russell Brand for decades and it's a brilliant day today that we're going to see him sentenced in court," Byrne stated.
"The judge has said it should be a significant sentence and I hope that this will empower more of Brand's victims to come forward. The police have said that already they're investigating two other potential rapes and that there may be many other cases."
She claimed that Brand was "allowed to get away with it", adding: "And what we've seen with these men is, if they're allowed to get away with it, they just keep doing it."
