The Sun is facing questions over the reporting that led to the suspension of a well-known male BBC presenter.
On Saturday the tabloid broke the story with a front page article, claiming “a well-known presenter” gave a 20-year-old crack cocaine user “more than £35,000 since they were 17 in return for sordid images”.
The most powerful of the newspaper’s allegations was that the young person was under 18 when they allegedly began selling pictures to the BBC presenter, raising the possibility that a serious criminal offence may have been committed.
Now the Sun is distancing itself from that element of the story, after the person at the centre of the story, now aged 20 and legally an adult, insisted the newspaper’s claims of illegal behaviour were “rubbish”.
These are the questions that remain about the Sun’s reporting:
1) Did the Sun contact the young person before publishing allegations?
The 20-year-old’s lawyer has said the Sun’s story is “rubbish”, alleged they were not approached for comment prior to publication, and insisted they told the Sun last week that the story was wrong.
Despite this, the Sun did not include any denial from the young person in its coverage until Monday night.
Sources in the Sun newsroom suggested the tabloid had been working on the story since at least Wednesday of last week, meaning they had at least 48 hours to approach the young person for their side of the story.
A Sun spokesperson did not return a request for comment on whether the newspaper had made any direct contact with the young person – or whether they had attempted to do so.
2) Did the Sun allege that the BBC presenter broke the law?
The newspaper’s initial reporting alleged the BBC presenter paid a teenager for “sordid images”, starting when the individual was 17.
This would appear to be a direct accusation that the presenter was commissioning child sexual abuse images, a serious criminal act that carries a prison sentence. It was this specific accusation that put the BBC into crisis mode, created a global scandal, and led to the presenter’s suspension.
Sources at the Sun are now distancing themselves from this line and claiming the story was not really about potential criminal activity. Instead, they suggest it was more about concerned parents trying to stop payments to a vulnerable child with a drug habit.
3) Does the Sun have hard evidence to back up its allegations?
The Sun’s reporting is largely based on anonymous interviews with the mother and stepfather of the young person. The newspaper says the mother approached them with the story, did not request a payment, and has signed a sworn legal affidavit that she is telling the truth.
It is unclear whether the Sun has seen the underlying evidence relating to the payments or the explicit material. For instance, the Sun said the stepfather “told the Beeb on 19 May of bank statements detailing huge payments from the star” but it is not clear whether the reporters have seen the bank statements.
A spokesperson from the newspaper emphasised that they were giving a voice to the parents’ allegations without definitively concluding they were correct: “We have reported a story about two very concerned parents who made a complaint to the BBC about the behaviour of a presenter and the welfare of their child. Their complaint was not acted upon by the BBC. We have seen evidence that supports their concerns. It’s now for the BBC to properly investigate.”
4) Is the Sun cooperating with police?
This is also unknown. If the Sun had evidence of a potential crime by a high-profile presenter it might be expected to share its reporting with the police to aid them with their inquiries.
5) Has the Sun raised any doubts over whether a criminal offence took place?
The stepfather told the newspaper on Monday that an unknown police force rejected his criminal complaint several months ago, saying: “I had gone to the police in desperation but they couldn’t do anything as they said it wasn’t illegal.”
The newspaper also now has a line in its stories stating: “A lawyer for the youngster says nothing unlawful or inappropriate happened.”
