Harsh when scandal’s brought up during broadcast (8)
I believe the answer is:
strident
'harsh' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'scandal's brought up during broadcast' is the wordplay.
'scandal' becomes 'dirt' ('dirt' can be a synonym of 'scandal').
'brought up' says the letters should be written in reverse (down clues only).
'during' is an insertion indicator.
'broadcast' becomes 'sent' (I've seen this in other clues**).
'dirt' reversed gives 'trid'.
'trid' put within 'sent' is 'STRIDENT'.
'when' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for strident that I've seen before include "making loud noises" , "Loudly assertive" , "Harsh, grating" , "Commanding attention" , "harsh sound" .)