S4C must "restore trust" after bullying claims, ex member says

S4C chief executive Sian Doyle was sacked following an investigation into allegations of bullying and a "culture of fear" within the organisation

S4C must "restore trust" following bullying allegations, a former member of the channel's authority has said.

Aled Eirug said the claims "undermined the good name of the service" and left the S4C Authority in a "very difficult position".

The publicly-funded Welsh-language channel sacked chief executive Sian Doyle on Friday after claims of a "toxic culture" at the organisation.

She criticised the decision and made serious allegations of her own.

Author and journalist Mr Eirug, who was a member of the authority from 2012 to 2015, told Radio Cymru's Sunday morning programme Bore Sul: "It's very serious and has undermined the good name of the service.

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"What's important now is that they regain confidence, and that trust is restored, and they go on to do what they're meant to do, which is run a service worthy of the audience."

Another former member of the S4C Authority, Dr Carol Bell, urged the matter be closed "as soon as possible".

Former S4C Authority board member Dr Carol Bell says bosses must now "show resilience" at a difficult time

The governing body and the executive must now "work together to show resilience in this extremely difficult time," she added.

She also warned many independent companies rely on S4C's commissioning.

"I would imagine that the focus will be on minimising the impact there, so that the very excellent and improving output that we've seen on S4C in the last few years will continue, and no financial hardship will be felt outside S4C as a consequence of these difficult events," she said.

"But it's not an easy thing to do when something as difficult as this happens within an organisation, it does require extreme resilience, and it requires very good cooperation between the executive and the authority to ensure that that risk doesn't materialise," she said.

S4C's headquarters are in Carmarthen

S4C declined to comment on what the former authority members said, referring back to a statement on Friday.

It said in a statement: "We recognise that we need to restore confidence and trust in the organisation - not only amongst our staff but with our partners in the creative sector, audiences in Wales and beyond."

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