BBC apologises to family at centre of Huw Edwards scandal
The BBC has apologised to the family involved in the Huw Edwards scandal over the way it handled their complaint.
The BBC faced accusations it did not respond quickly enough to complaints from the family of a young person, after it took seven weeks for allegations of inappropriate behaviour to be put to Edwards.
Pic: BBC
Edwards, who was the BBC’s highest-earning newsreader, was accused of paying a teenager thousands of pounds for sexually explicit photos.
In July 2023 the BBC commissioned a review of its non-editorial complaints policies and processes, which promised to “assess how some complaints are red-flagged up the organisation”.
He also ordered an additional “factfinding investigation”.
Now, seven months later, the report has found there was a need for “greater consistency” in how complaints at the corporation are processed, and revealed that the initial complaint about Edwards was not logged on the relevant case management system so could not be seen by senior figures.
The report also highlighted that there was no documented process for contact and follows-ups with the complainant, so when attempts to make contact were unsuccessful, the course of action was not clear.
‘We accept the process improvements in full’
Commenting on the review, published today, Leigh Tavaziva, the BBC Group Chief Operating Officer said: “Although our existing processes and systems are, on the whole, working effectively, this review shows that we need to join them up better to ensure no matter how a non-editorial complaint comes into the BBC it is escalated swiftly, when needed, and dealt with by the right people.
“Where the review identifies process improvements we accept those in full, and we are delivering on an action plan with a number of enhancements already in place.
“The report identifies specific process shortcomings in the presenter case. The initial complaint in this case was not escalated quickly enough to senior management and we have apologised to the complainant for this.”
The report, which was led by Ms Tavaziva and carried out by Deloitte, also found that some employees felt nervous about raising a complaint with the BBC, particularly if it was about a more senior member of staff or a high profile figure.
Additionally it suggested the BBC make “better use of technology” to give a full picture of each complaint across all teams dealing with them.
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‘We have been in touch with the complainant,’ says BBC director-general
Around a week after news of the allegations against Edwards broke, BBC director-general Tim Davie and other BBC bosses were questioned in parliament at a pre-arranged Lords Communications Committee session.
‘Not bring the BBC into disrepute’ clause
At the time Mr Davie said: “We have been in touch with the complainant, we want to be engaged and appropriately listening and understanding their concern”.
He was also asked about holding the BBC’s high-paid talent to account, responding: “I think the history of this industry is such that we should all be concerned and appropriately diligent around the abuse of power by people in powerful positions.
“You need to ensure that you’re very, very clear on what your expectations are culturally, as well as the policy.”
He went on to say he was “proud” of the corporation’s code of conduct and values, calling the whistleblowing process by which staff can confidentially report concerns to an external support at work line “a safe place”.
He also confirmed to peers that high-profile presenters at the corporation have a clause in their contract about not bringing the BBC into disrepute.
Original allegations
Allegations that Edwards paid a teenager more than £35,000 for sexually explicit photos were first published in The Sun on Friday 7 July. The paper did not name him at the time.
Five days later, the Metropolitan Police said they did not believe any criminal activity had taken place and would be taking no further action.
In a letter to BBC News, the young person at the centre of the Edwards controversy said via lawyers nothing inappropriate or unlawful happened with the then unnamed presenter.
Following intense speculation over the identity of the BBC presenter, Edwards’ wife, Vicky Flind, confirmed him as the man at the centre of the allegations.
In a statement, she said he was “suffering from serious mental health issues” and was “receiving in-patient hospital care”.
Edwards has been absent from screens since the story first broke.
As the face of BBC News At 10, the 62-year-old has previously led election night coverage, and broke the news of Queen Elizabeth II’s death. He was last on air on Wednesday 5 July, covering the King’s visit to Scotland.
Taylor Swift has revealed the release date for her new album, The Life Of A Showgirl.
The pop megastar announced her 12th studio album earlier this week but didn’t give many details.
Now, in social media posts and an appearance on boyfriend Travis Kelce’s sports podcast, Swift revealed just what fans can expect from the new album.
Taylor Swift and boyfriend Travis Kelce on the New Heights podcast. Pic: New Heights
The Life of Showgirl, written during the European leg of her record-breaking Eras tour, will be released on 3 October.
It consists of 12 songs, including the title track that features pop star Sabrina Carpenter.
The full track list is:
1. The Fate Of Ophelia
2. Elizabeth Taylor
3. Opalite
4. Father Figure
5. Eldest Daughter
6. Ruin The Friendship
7. Actually Romantic
8. Wi$h Li$t
9. Wood
10. Cancelled!
11. Honey
12. The Life Of A Showgirl (featuring Sabrina Carpenter)
Long-time collaborators Max Martin and Shellback, two Swedish producers who worked with Swift on some of her biggest hits, joined the pop star for this album.
Within four hours of posting the full podcast episode on YouTube, it had already gathered 4.7m views.
The cover of Taylor Swift’s newly announced album. Pic: Republic Records
The back cover of Taylor Swift’s 12th studio album The Life Of A Showgirl. Pic: Republic Records
‘The hardest-working star in pop’
The album follows last year’s The Tortured Poets Department, which was released during the Eras tour.
That tour, with shows on five continents and in 51 cities, raked in more than $2.2bn (£1.62bn) and was the highest-grossing tour of all time.
Read more about Taylor Swift:
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“This album is about what was going on behind the scenes in my inner life during this tour, which was so exuberant and electric and vibrant,” Swift said during her podcast appearance.
Sky News culture and entertainment reporter Gemma Peplow said after her globe-trotting tour and a swathe of re-releases over recent years, the new album cemented Swift’s reputation “as the hardest-working star in pop”.
Disgraced US film producer Harvey Weinstein is to be tried for a third time in a sexual assault case.
A jury in New York could not reach a verdict in June against the 73-year-old who was accused of raping actress Jessica Mann, and a mistrial was declared.
Judge Curtis Farber has said he wants the new trial to happen before the end of this year.
The same jury found Weinstein guilty in June of sexually assaulting former Project Runway production assistant Miriam Haley in 2006 and not guilty of assaulting Polish former runway model Kaja Sokola the same year.
Weinstein will be sentenced for the guilty verdict in Ms Haley’s case on 30 September.
He denied all of the charges. Throughout the retrial, his lawyers insisted the sexual encounters with his three accusers were “transactional” and “consensual,” and labelled the women as opportunists.
Weinstein was originally convicted of rape and criminal sexual act by the same court in 2020 and sentenced to 23 years in prison for the crimes.
Last year, however, New York’s highest court overturned the conviction, prompting Weinstein’s retrial this summer.
Weinstein was once one of the most powerful people in Hollywood – the co-founder of film and television production companies Miramax and The Weinstein Company, who produced films such as the Oscar-winning Shakespeare In Love, Pulp Fiction, and The Crying Game.
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In 2017, a series of sexual misconduct allegations against him propelled the #MeToo movement.
Some of those accusations later led to criminal charges and his convictions in New York and California.
Before the retrial, Weinstein was also serving a 16-year prison sentence after being found guilty of rape in California in December 2022. He has also denied this charge.
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