For six days, the BBC’s top journalists have gathered at Broadcasting House in central London and dedicated themselves to investigating Huw Edwards, the corporation’s most famous news presenter.
Up above them, on the building’s fourth floor, the BBC director general, Tim Davie, has been working non-stop to get a grip on the scandal, receiving updates on the allegations, and fighting for the broadcaster’s reputation.
But down in the open-plan “news pit” in the centre of the building, staff employed by the BBC’s news division have been working just as hard to find fresh lines of inquiry about Edwards, a close colleague, ever since the Sun’s claim the presenter paid a 17-year-old for explicit photos – an allegation the newspaper later backtracked on.
“It’s weird – but it’s being treated like any other story,” said one journalist involved, who suggested the BBC News division was attempting to prove its independence and impartiality from the corporate BBC by driving the story on.
One of the most extraordinary claims, made by multiple individuals in the newsroom, is that BBC journalists including Victoria Derbyshire had been “taking initial soundings” in relation to claims against Edwards in the days before the Sun released its original story.
The sources claim BBC journalists may have been making early inquiries into allegations of workplace impropriety against Edwards without informing BBC News management they were investigating one of their own presenters. Similar suggestions have also been reported by Deadline.
On Tuesday, the fruits of the BBC’s own investigations began to be published. A team including special correspondent Lucy Manning released a story about Edwards – who was at that point still anonymous – allegedly sending abusive and threatening messages to a person he met on a dating app. The person, in their 20s, is said to have hinted they could publicly post about the BBC presenter.
On Wednesday night, shortly after Edwards was named publicly by his wife, Newsnight presenter Victoria Derbyshire made the first allegations of potential wrongdoing in the workplace, with a story claiming Edwards had messaged three young BBC employees, including one who is still at the organisation. BBC News journalists are understood to be working on further potential stories on Edwards, even while the BBC’s corporate investigations conducts its own parallel inquiry.
With the Sun announcing it has no plans to publish new allegations about Edwards, who is in hospital with mental health issues, this means the BBC’s news arm is now leading reporting on its own £435,000-a-year presenter.
Part of this is motivated by a desire to prove the impartial independence of BBC News’ reporting from the corporate organisation – something that may be lost on many viewers, listeners and readers.
Yet some BBC journalists are starting to worry that there is a risk of over-compensating. There is a running joke in the corporation that “BBC News” is so-called because that’s the main service it provides.
Dozens of reporters have been working on the story, which has played heavily across the corporation’s website, television channels and dozens of radio stations. Former BBC journalist Jon Sopel, now host of The News Agents podcast, said he had “been struck by how many of my former BBC colleagues, some very senior, have been in touch to express their anger and dismay at their own coverage of this”.
Sopel told ITV’s Good Morning Britain that he had been in touch with Edwards since the story broke and the suspended presenter was “not overly impressed” with the BBC’s coverage of the incident.
Previous BBC scandals loom over everything. One newsroom source suggested there may be concern among managers as to how their actions could be perceived in a potential inquiry.
Multiple individuals pointed to memories of the Jimmy Savile scandal and the treatment of Newsnight reporters Meirion Jones and Liz MacKean. They attempted to expose one of the BBC’s best-known stars as a prolific paedophile only for their investigation to be kept off air by BBC bosses. When their claims against Savile later turned out to be correct, the Newsnight editor lost his job and the then BBC director general, George Entwistle, was forced to resign.
The picture has also been muddied by the Sun’s decision to backtrack on its initial allegation that Edwards may have bought photos from a 17-year-old – a potentially serious criminal offence. Davie has suggested it was the allegation the young person was under-18 that prompted the BBC to launch a full-blown investigation of the presenter and suspend him.
The criminal aspect of the original claim against Edwards has now collapsed after inquiries by the police, which have since closed, although the overall allegations against Edwards regarding his behaviour are still considered “serious” by the BBC, it said.
Davie told reporters on Tuesday that its newsroom has been “suitably muscular” while reporting on the story.
One BBC journalist who had worked on the story said the corporation’s size meant any story it led on became a national talking point: “What’s difficult for the BBC is that it’s such a huge organisation with so many outlets, you amplify it hugely.”
They also suggested the Sun’s original reporting could have been wrong, but it could have led to more legitimate stories: “We could get into a situation where there is a story in the Sun about a BBC presenter that is not what it was billed as at the beginning – and turns out to be not criminal. But it has set the hare racing to see what other people can find out about the presenter.”
