Martin Lewis has outlined the challenge of maintaining "ethical" social improvement employment programmes and issued a rallying cry for linear TV ahead of picking up Bafta Television Special Award for his services to broadcasting.
The presenter of ITV’s The Martin Lewis Money Show Live, who is involved with the John Schofield Trust, which helps people from non-traditional backgrounds wanting to work in broadcast journalism, says he has “a really big problem” with employers not paying people on work experience placements.
“We pay London living wage to our work experience people and our interns – it’s crucial,” he said.
“There is a problem within an industry which is in decline of how you continue to behave in an ethical way. When you are cutting corners, social improvement programmes are one of the first corners that you cut.”
Lewis said the problem had particularly severe implications for his form of public service journalsm.
“We are going into people’s homes and we are providing crucial information, we are providing a window on society and we’re providing access to a whole different journey and environment than people would otherwise get,” he said.
“We have to be very, very careful that we are properly fulfilling our role in society … We can talk about social equality and diversity and those are important, but at the raw level you have to allow your staff to have more than subsistence living to want to continue in the industry.”
He also urged the “very young people-heavy” television industry to examine ways of retaining people after the age of 30.
Linear TV
Lewis, who has a huge social media presence and also reaches nine million people with his weekly Money Saving Expert newsletter, also stressed the value of engaging people through live TV.
“I would take one million viewers on linear television for an hour over 10 million people watching a social media video - I think the one million would probably have 10 to 20 times the impact. There’s a little bit premature announcement of the death of linear television.”
Lewis also hit out at government inaction over deep-fake scams using his name and image, and said he often turned down other work due to the responsibility of his consumer output.
“At some point I’ll probably step away from open phone-ins (on LBC) and do more big picture stuff – there’s other stuff I’d love to do if I ever found the right vehicle.
“I love game shows and quizzes but it’s finding something that fits in – what I do is so important to me, but through luck and fortune I’m in a role that if I went away, I don’t think there’s anyone that would replicate it, not for a few years anyway.”
Bafta chief executive Jane Millichip said: "Martin has consistently proved the power of television to drive positive societal change. His expertise is unique in the TV landscape and his ability to turn information into meaningful, tangible advice is unmatched."
Lewis will receive the honour at the Bafta Television Awards on Sunday 10 May.
