BBC: Rishi Sunak says allegations of presenter paying for explicit ...
The BBC has published an update that sets out key dates and some additional information that it is currently able to share:
On 18 May, the complainant (a family member) attended a BBC building, where they sought to make a complaint about the behaviour of a BBC presenter.
On 19 May, the complainant contacted BBC Audience Services; the details of this contact were referred to the BBC’s Corporate Investigations Team.
On 19 May, the BBC’s Corporate Investigations Team assessed the information contained in the complaint provided from Audience Services. The assessment made was that on the basis of the information provided it did not include an allegation of criminality, but nonetheless merited further investigation.
On 19 May, the BBC’s Corporate Investigations Team emailed the complainant stating how seriously the BBC takes the issue and seeking additional information to verify the claims being made; there was no response to this contact.
On 19 May, checks were also made to verify the identity of the complainant. This is a standard procedure to confirm that the complainant is the person they say they are.
On 6 June, having received no response to the email referenced above, a phone call was made to the mobile number provided by the complainant by the BBC’s Corporate Investigations Team; this call did not connect.
Following these attempts to make contact with the complainant, the Corporate Investigations Team were due to return to the matter in the coming weeks. No additional attempts to contact the complainant were made after 6 June, however the case remained open throughout.
On 6 July, the Sun newspaper informed the BBC via the Corporate Press Office of allegations concerning a BBC presenter; it became clear that the source of the claims was from the same family as approached the BBC on 18 and 19 May. This was the first time that the director general or any executive directors at the BBC were aware of the case.
The claims made by the Sun contained new allegations, that were different to the matters being considered by BBC Corporate Investigations.
On 6 July, the BBC initiated an incident management group to lead the response to this case, involving senior BBC executives including the director general. The acting chairman was updated, and the board was regularly updated in the coming days.
On 6 July, a senior manager held the first conversation on this matter with the presenter concerned, to make him aware of the claims being outlined by the Sun. It was agreed that the presenter would not be on air while this matter was being considered.
On 7 July, following the Sun’s contact, the BBC’s Corporate Investigations team contacted the complainant again, who was in touch with the BBC’s investigators.
On 7 July, the BBC’s Serious Case Management Framework (SCMF) was initiated and the investigation being undertaken by the Corporate Investigations Team was brought into the SCMF, which is chaired by a human resources director.
On 7 July the BBC also made contact with the police with regard to this matter.
On 8 July and on 9 July the complainant sent the BBC some materials related to the complaint.
On 9 July the BBC issued an update to staff and the media; the BBC also confirmed that it had suspended the presenter.
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First complaint to BBC "very serious" but not criminal - DavieJim Waterson
Tim Davie took questions from journalists on the presenter cash-for-pictures scandal during his annual report briefing. We’ll bring you the highlights here from my colleague, media editor Jim Waterson.
Will the incident damage trust in the BBC?Any affair of this nature is serious in terms of the BBC’s reputation. Trust is absolutely fundamental to the BBC. It is too early to say how this impacts the BBC’s reputation in terms of trust. I think there are a number of principles I feel strongly about: The BBC does its business in terms of free independent reporting.
We constantly need to be seen to be navigating complex fast-moving issues confidently and calmly.
When did the presenter learn about the allegations against them?The presenter was first talked to on the 6 July, the day that the Sun allegations came into the BBC. Before that, there was a process of trying to verify the serious complaint we had into our audiences services team.
The process is that we did receive a call on 19 May. That was taken by the audience services team, who then make a summary call for the investigations team.
On the basis of the information they had at that point, it did not involve an allegation of criminality but it was nonetheless very serious. But their assessment was it did not include an allegation of criminality. When the Sun made new allegations on the 6 July they were different to the matters being considered by BBC corporate investigations and clearly related to potential criminal activity.
Allegations present 'a complex and difficult situation', says BBC director generalAt the BBC annual report press briefing, director general Tim Davie made a statement addressing the unfolding situation concerning the allegations against the BBC presenter.
He said:
This is clearly a complex and difficult situation where we need to manage a number of factors – properly responding to serious allegations, sensitively managing duty of care issues, appropriately respecting the privacy of individuals and justified public interest.
We do believe we are navigating these responsibly and judicially but we recognise it’s not easy to do so.
The BBC Corporate Investigations Team had a meeting with the police in relation to the information provided to the BBC by the Sun newspaper on Thursday 6 July, Davie said.
He went on:
As a result of this the BBC has been asked to pause its own investigation into the allegations while they scope future work. We will pass any material that we have to them.
We know that questions have been asked how this case was initially managed and the timeline of events, so today we have published an update that sets out key dates and further detail.
The BBC has processes and protocols for receiving information and managing allegations when they are made,
We always take these matters seriously and seek to manage them with care.
The events of recent days have shown how complex and challenging these kinds of cases can be and how vital it is they are handled with the upmost diligence.
That is why it is important that we ensure these processes are robust and working appropriately.
Davie said the corporation’s chief operating officer Leigh Tavaziva will oversee a review into current protocols and procedures for “red flagging” complaints within the organisation.
Updated timeline published by BBCThe BBC has published an update that sets out key dates and some additional information that it is currently able to share:
On 18 May, the complainant (a family member) attended a BBC building, where they sought to make a complaint about the behaviour of a BBC presenter.
On 19 May, the complainant contacted BBC Audience Services; the details of this contact were referred to the BBC’s Corporate Investigations Team.
On 19 May, the BBC’s Corporate Investigations Team assessed the information contained in the complaint provided from Audience Services. The assessment made was that on the basis of the information provided it did not include an allegation of criminality, but nonetheless merited further investigation.
On 19 May, the BBC’s Corporate Investigations Team emailed the complainant stating how seriously the BBC takes the issue and seeking additional information to verify the claims being made; there was no response to this contact.
On 19 May, checks were also made to verify the identity of the complainant. This is a standard procedure to confirm that the complainant is the person they say they are.
On 6 June, having received no response to the email referenced above, a phone call was made to the mobile number provided by the complainant by the BBC’s Corporate Investigations Team; this call did not connect.
Following these attempts to make contact with the complainant, the Corporate Investigations Team were due to return to the matter in the coming weeks. No additional attempts to contact the complainant were made after 6 June, however the case remained open throughout.
On 6 July, the Sun newspaper informed the BBC via the Corporate Press Office of allegations concerning a BBC presenter; it became clear that the source of the claims was from the same family as approached the BBC on 18 and 19 May. This was the first time that the director general or any executive directors at the BBC were aware of the case.
The claims made by the Sun contained new allegations, that were different to the matters being considered by BBC Corporate Investigations.
On 6 July, the BBC initiated an incident management group to lead the response to this case, involving senior BBC executives including the director general. The acting chairman was updated, and the board was regularly updated in the coming days.
On 6 July, a senior manager held the first conversation on this matter with the presenter concerned, to make him aware of the claims being outlined by the Sun. It was agreed that the presenter would not be on air while this matter was being considered.
On 7 July, following the Sun’s contact, the BBC’s Corporate Investigations team contacted the complainant again, who was in touch with the BBC’s investigators.
On 7 July, the BBC’s Serious Case Management Framework (SCMF) was initiated and the investigation being undertaken by the Corporate Investigations Team was brought into the SCMF, which is chaired by a human resources director.
On 7 July the BBC also made contact with the police with regard to this matter.
On 8 July and on 9 July the complainant sent the BBC some materials related to the complaint.
On 9 July the BBC issued an update to staff and the media; the BBC also confirmed that it had suspended the presenter.
BBC pauses inquiry while police look into allegations - BBCThe BBC has been asked to pause its investigation into allegations one of its presenters paid a teenager for explicit images “while the police scope future work” following a meeting with the Metropolitan Police, the corporation has said.
The press accountability campaign group, Hacked Off, has waded into the BBC presenter scandal, calling for the Sun to answer questions over its handling of the story.
Its comments come in the wake of a statement made by a lawyer representing the young person at the heart of the controversy, that alleged the mother and the newspaper had made false claims.
The lawyer said: “For the avoidance of doubt, nothing inappropriate or unlawful has taken place between our client and the BBC personality and the allegations reported in the Sun newspaper are rubbish.”
Nathan Sparkes, the chief executive of Hacked Off, said:
If the claims of this young person’s lawyer are true, they indicate that the Sun failed to follow even the most basic journalistic standards in pursuit of this story. They must explain what representations they had from the person involved and why, if they did indeed receive objections, they disregarded them.
They have used the lives of this young person, and BBC presenter, to further their relentless anti-BBC agenda.
Newspapers like the Sun are able to publish these reckless attacks, which do irreparable damage to people’s lives, with impunity because they remain outside of any independent form of regulation. There remains no evidence that Ipso, the Sun’s complaints handler which is controlled by the industry, has lifted a finger to investigate the Sun in relation to their conduct on this story.
If the lawyer’s claims are true, then the Sun should issue a direct apology to the BBC for its coverage over the last few days.
On Monday, a spokesperson for the Sun said: “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.”
The young person’s parents on Monday night said they “stand by” the claims.
Sources in the Sun newsroom suggested there was growing nervousness about the newspaper’s handling of the story, which has dominated the headlines for several days, led to the suspension of the BBC presenter, and forced multiple on-air stars to publicly deny they have been suspended.
Mel Stride says he will not use parliamentary privilege to identify BBC presenter at centre of rowThe cabinet minister Mel Stride also made comments this morning about the use of parliamentary privilege.
The work and pensions secretary said he would not use parliamentary privilege to identify the BBC presenter at the centre of a scandal in an apparent move to discourage fellow MPs from taking that decision.
Asked on Sky News if he would use parliamentary privilege – in effect a form of legal immunity that grants MPs protection in the House of Commons – to name the presenter involved, as some of his colleagues have suggested they might, Stride said he would not. He said:
I can only speak for myself. I would personally certainly not be doing that.
That is a privilege that should be used very sparingly and with great thought.
Read more here:
Rishi Sunak speaks with journalists in Vilnius, Lithuania. Photograph: Paul Ellis/APA bit more from Sunak in Lithuania. The PM declined to comment on reports some MPs could be considering naming the presenter at the heart of the scandal under the protection of parliamentary privilege. He told reporters:
We have an existing set of laws that govern free speech and privacy.
I think it’s important that the BBC conducts this investigation quickly and rigorously given the concerning and serious nature of the allegations.
He said the government “is confident the BBC is investigating this both rigorously and rapidly” and that this is “the right course of action”.
Jim Waterson
Entirely coincidentally, today is the release of the BBC’s annual report, where the corporation sets out its performance over the last year and publishes enormous amounts of data on its finances, future plans, and how it is performing. It’s also one of the only occasions where the BBC’s top executives – including director general Tim Davie – subject themselves to questions from the media.
The release of the report was planned long before the BBC was thrown into crisis by anonymous allegations against a senior presenter, which has led to his suspension.
Davie and the interim chair, Dame Elan Closs Stephens, who is making her first public appearance in the role, are expected to answer questions and provide an update on the investigation into the presenter. We will be able to report what they said at midday.
Allegations 'shocking and concerning' – PMDan Sabbagh
The prime minister, Rishi Sunak, said he was alarmed by reports that a BBC presenter may have paid thousands for explicit pictures from a young person – but said that ministers had been reassured by the corporation that its investigation into the case would be quick.
“They were shocking and concerning allegations,” the prime minister said on his way to the Nato summit. “The culture secretary spoke to the director general on Sunday and is reassured the process they are taking is rigorous and will be swift. We’ve had those reassurances and that’s the right thing to do.”
It was important for those investigating the situation, such as the BBC and the police, to be allowed to reach a conclusion, he said.
The prime minister also added he had not been told by his aides the identity of the presenter, who has been widely named online.
Work and pensions secretary Mel Stride. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty ImagesThe work and pensions secretary, Mel Stride, was on duty as the face for the government in media rounds and was asked questions about the scandal at the BBC.
The cabinet minister urged people to “resist … the urge to opine on” the allegations that a BBC presenter paid a teenager for sexually explicit images, and about how the allegations are being dealt with.
He told Sky News:
Once it’s all over and concluded, I think that is most certainly the time to be looking at whether things were done correctly or not.
But at the moment, it seems to me this is a highly fluid, unknown situation and we should give the BBC a bit of space.
It’s really important that all of us resist, to the extent that we can, the urge to opine on what was right, or what was outrageous or wrong, until we know all the facts.
Asked about the BBC’s handling of the situation, he said:
We don’t know enough of the facts to be able to start pointing too many fingers yet at the process.
I think we have to wait till this has played out as quickly and effectively as possible, and that’s what the secretary of state (for digital, culture, media and sport) has been pushing for. And then we can start to make those judgments.
Morning summaryWelcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of developments in the unfolding scandal at the BBC involving an unnamed presenter who has been accused of paying tens of thousands of pounds for explicit images from a young person.
The broadcaster has suspended a male member of staff after the Sun newspaper reported claims from the parents of a young person that the presenter had paid around £35,000 over three years for explicit images.
The scandal took another twist on Monday night after a lawyer representing the young person at the centre of the controversy said nothing inappropriate or unlawful happened, calling the reporting “rubbish”.
The Met police have said at this time there would be no criminal investigation into the allegations.
However, the parents of the young person involved, who is said to be 20 now, stand by the account they gave to the Sun.
Today will be a busy day for the BBC, a day of enormous pressure, as the corporation publishes its annual report in the midst of the controversy.
The BBC’s director general, Tim Davie, is expected to talk to the media, which was previously scheduled due to the release of the report, and is likely to bombarded with questions over the corporation’s handling of the controversy.
