Allegations against UK presenter spark furor over media ethics

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A week of upheaval in Britain’s media ends with the country’s best-known news presenter hospitalized with mental health issues, his biggest tabloid widely condemned and his beleaguered national broadcaster the BBC embroiled in fresh news crisis.

Huw Edwards, 61, is perhaps the most recognizable face in British news, the BBC’s voice for everything from the death of Queen Elizabeth II to the opening ceremony of the Olympics. This week the public figure was shattered after being accused of paying a young man, now 20, some 35,000 pounds (about $45,000) for explicit photos.

The story seemed to clear up, however, when the alleged victims’ own attorney came forward to say there had been no wrongdoing, and police said they could not find evidence that a crime had been committed. The saga has now morphed into a wider discussion of British media culture, which again grapples with questions of ethics, standards and public trust.

No party emerged unscathed.

Edwards’ wife says he is being treated for serious mental health issues. And many commentators are critical of the reporting and ethical standards of The Sun, the right-wing tabloid owned by tycoon Rupert Murdoch, which published the scoop leading to Edwards’ identification.

It has also become a battleground in the culture war raging over the BBC, a public service broadcaster that provides a dizzying array of content for a mandatory annual fee of 159 pounds (about $209). For years it has been under pressure from the ruling Conservative Party, whose lawmakers have made little secret of their desire to downsize or dismantle it because its state-funded model runs counter to their worldview. of the free market.

British detectives met with representatives of the BBC on Monday over allegations that a prominent presenter paid a teenager for sexually explicit photos. But police said they had not opened a criminal investigation and a lawyer for the youngster denied anything improper had happened. (Kin Cheung/AP)

When trying to make sense of Edwards’ story, it’s important to remember that The Sun is part of the Murdoch Empire, which has a long-standing hatred of the BBC, partly commercial and partly ideological. , said Steven Barnett, professor of communication in London. University of Westminster, which has worked in the industry for over three decades.

The story continues

Murdochs Sun is Britain’s most widely read news brand with some 30 million monthly readers in print and online. It has also become one of the most controversial forces in public life, feared by prime ministers, invoked by celebrities and hated by many non-readers.

While Barnett said The Sun based its exclusivity on very, very flimsy evidence, some industry players have defended the newspaper.

Journalists who hold others accountable for their behavior must be prepared to be held accountable for their behavior, said Adam Boulton, a former correspondent for NBC News’ UK partner Sky News.

There have been many people whose careers have ended, not for breaking the law but because they brought their employer into disrepute, he told Sky News on Wednesday.

(Before NBC News’ parent group Comcast bought Sky News in 2018, it was 39% owned by Murdochs Twenty-First Century Fox.)

The Sun published its scoop last Friday on an anonymous TV personality paying thousands of pounds for sex photos of a youngster, funding his crack addiction. The source was the victims’ alleged mother, who said their child is now 20 but payments have been ongoing since they were 17.

Although the age of consent is 16 in the UK, it is illegal to possess indecent images of anyone under the age of 18.

Edwards, a church-goal Christian with five children, has grown rapidly on social media. And his wife, Vicky Flind, confirmed his identity on Wednesday, saying in a statement that the episode caused him serious mental health issues and that he was hospitalized for the foreseeable future.

The original account presented by The Sun was quickly challenged. The youths’ lawyer said in a statement on Monday that the claims made by their family were rubbish and that nothing inappropriate or illegal had happened. London’s Metropolitan Police announced on Wednesday there was no evidence of a crime.

The story increasingly sounded like a family feud, hearsay from the parents of an adult child, who deny what the parents are saying, said Barnett, the communications teacher.

A former Sun editor, David Yelland, tweeted on Wednesday that the newspaper had inflicted terror on Huw and that this was no longer a crisis for the BBC, it was a crisis for the newspaper.

Soon the #NewsoftheWorld was trending on Twitter, equating the crisis to sister newspaper The Suns, which shut down in 2011 after it was discovered hacking into the phones of celebrities and crime victims.

London police say there is no evidence a BBC presenter who allegedly paid a teenager for sexually explicit photos committed a crime. The Metropolitan Police released the statement on Wednesday as Huw Edwards’ wife identified him as the presenter. (James Manning/PA Images via AP)

The Sun is unrepentant.

The story still involved two very concerned and frustrated parents who lodged a complaint with the BBC over a presenter’s behavior and payments from him which fueled a youngster’s drug use, a spokesperson said. in an emailed statement.

At no time in our original story did the newspaper allege criminality, the statement added, declining to explain how this tallied with its report that the youngster was 17 when the payments began.

NBC News has not confirmed any of the Suns’ reports. And no family details have been released, so it was not possible to ask them for comment.

The BBC is currently investigating, including into new allegations. The Sun reported that Edwards breached coronavirus lockdown restrictions in 2021 to meet someone from a dating app. And the BBC reported that two current members and a former member of staff had received abusive messages from him.

The broadcaster is investigating calmly, carefully and diligently, with full regard to our duty of care to everyone involved, a BBC spokesperson said.

But the spokesman declined to comment on criticism from the BBC itself.

For some on the right, it is a taxpayer-funded juggernaut that is slow to act on allegations against top talent. The specter of Jimmy Savile, the BBC entertainer who was revealed to have been a serial sex abuser by BBC rivals after his death in 2011, looms on the horizon.

But those familiar critics are joined by others who believe the BBC has overcompensated, giving Edwards’ story global coverage that no commercial rival would.

BBC journalists were desperate to demonstrate their independence from BBC management, Barnett said. They have gone out of their way, not just to cover up the story and repeat the allegations, but to try to find their own evidence of wrongdoing.

This article originally appeared on NBCNews.com

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