Huw Edwards: Britain's Broken Press
In the aftermath of the Philip Schofield saga, Britain collectively rolled its eyes when The Sun published allegations that an unnamed BBC presenter last week had paid a young person £35,000 for sexual content, beginning when they were 17. As with all stories where the details are vague – and they were particularly vague in this instance – readers often fill in the gaps. It was very clear from The Sun's article that they were alleging criminal activity: the type which finishes careers for good.
In the days that followed, speculation was rife; numerous BBC presenters scrambled to clarify online that the allegations were not referring to them. The knowledge that the BBC had suspended the presenter pending investigation ensured that a public search was underway, noting who was and who wasn't appearing on air. The BBC themselves, presumably keen to avoid allegations of whitewashing, focused on the story at the expense of almost all other news.
As time passed, things started to look a lot less straightforward. It became clear that the young person in question had not gone to the press themselves. In fact, their solicitor had warned The Sun against publishing, stating that the article was largely "nonsense". Instead, the story came from the parents of the young person, who was suffering with substance abuse issues.
Additionally, The Sun appeared to be making serious allegations without publishing any evidence whatsoever to support them. There were no redacted bank statements, no screenshots of inappropriate messages, no nothing. They also failed to publish the young person's denials, despite having received them before publication.
The campaign group Hacked Off has stated, “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.” I would go further and argue that they didn't just fail, they wilfully failed to follow basic journalistic standards.
Yesterday, having investigated the matter, the Metropolitan Police stated that they had found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing. That means that there is no evidence that the presenter had paid the young person for sexual images before the young person as 18. In short, nothing illegal appears to have happened.
Just minutes later, Huw Edwards' wife announced that he was the presenter who was accused, and was currently in hospital suffering – unsurprisingly – from a severe mental health episode.
Last night, The Sun had the audacity to state that they never claimed that criminal activity had taken place. That is untrue. They alleged – very strongly – that criminal activity had taken place. They did so by stating that the presenter had been paying this person for sexual images since the age of 17. Without that, the story does not gain anywhere near as much traction. If it was a misrepresentation, it was a deliberate one.
To recap the facts of the story as we know them presently – and they may change in the future – Huw Edwards committed no crime. He may have behaved irresponsibly, unethically and inflicted hurt on his wife and family, but he has not committed any crime. The media speculation caused by The Sun alleging that he had paid an underage child for sexual imagery has resulted in him being left in hospital and a severely deteriorated mental state. It's important to note that Huw Edwards' struggles with depression are not some revelations released to counter-attack a press intrusion: they have been readily known for some time.
There's not a huge deal to unpack in the story itself, but a lot to unpack around it.
In his interview following the revelations surrounding an affair with a young runner on ITV's This Morning, Philip Schofield suggested that a large part of the furore surrounding his behaviour stemmed from homophobia. He stated that if his relationship had been with a young woman, there would not be the same level of outrage. I suspect that is true.
Although the gender of the young person involved in the Huw Edwards story hasn't been confirmed, I've seen it more or less accepted online that it is a young man. If it transpires to not be a young man, the feeding frenzy has already had its fill from the insinuation that it could be a young man.
There does appear to be a presumption – possibly correctly, due to persistent homophobia in society – that a scandal involving an older man and a younger man is inherently more morally reprehensible. This is an unspoken presumption, of course, but one about which I feel Philip Schofield is correct.
There's also the media backdrop to consider. Rupert Murdoch, 90, who owns The Sun, has a well-documented dislike of the BBC. The antithesis to his for-profit media empire, Murdoch reportedly told then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson to "get rid of the BBC."
By publishing these allegations, The Sun achieved its objective: to seize an opportunity to further tarnish the reputation of the BBC. It has nothing to do with Huw Edwards, other than him being a convenient tool to use in attacking the broadcaster.
Perhaps even more worrying is the fact that the BBC has played straight into their hands. Seemingly desperate to appear transparent and avoid criticism, it doubled down on coverage of the whole affair whilst basically ignoring other stories in which there should be far more public interest: Boris Johnson failing to turn his mobile phone over the Covid inquiry, for example.
For all the fabricated culture wars that have been rammed down our throats this past decade, we are witnessing a real one taking place before our eyes. The battle between a Western oligarch in Murdoch and something he loathes: a public service broadcaster that is a real inconvenience when it comes to him spewing his race-baiting, misogynistic click-bait over the airwaves truly unchallenged.
The outcome of this entire ordeal is a man in hospital for the crime of having a complicated home life, a broadcaster whose reputation has taken a further hit, and The Sun slinking back off into the hole it resides in, far more unscathed than it should be. IPSO, the press regulator in the UK, is not fit for purpose, and was described on LBC yesterday as a "puppet regulator". Its shortcomings are also well-documented.
Stories like this become the only national headline when a country's society has become drunk on celebrity gossip, showbiz sex scandals and the unpunished publishing of spurious accusations. Allegations based on nothing more than the likes of jingoism, populism and homophobia can be thrown at anyone in the public spotlight without consequence – ending careers and damaging health – all because the public thirst for gossip and misplaced justice is so ravenous. These papers prey on people's dissatisfaction and fears, stoking up belief that anyone you meet could be some kind of vicious sexual predator, and any whiff of impropriety from a public figure is yet more 'proof' that it is so.
One need only take a brief look on the so-called "Village Square" that is Twitter to see the vitriol and dogpiling going on against a man who – as it stands – has committed no crime whatsoever. The moral outrage and slavering for retribution is in full swing. And it's terrifying. Genuinely terrifying. Hell hath no fury like a headline-reading Twitter user.
What a curious coincidence that the most vociferous accounts spewing the hatred carry symbols of British patriotism.
And, just to reinforce the homophobia element, the responses to broadcaster Owen Jones – with whom I disagree on a fair few issues – when he had the audacity to point out that The Sun had spread a false allegation that Huw Edwards purchased underage sexual photos highlight just how prolific it is.
This is just the latest example of how the classic homophobic narrative that gays are child groomers is re-emerging with a vengeance. pic.twitter.com/2l1kq3vdaV
— Owen Jones (@OwenJones84) July 13, 2023
Much as I would love to think that the world is changing – and I have been pleasantly surprised by the sensitivity with which some news anchors and media pundits have approached the situation, with particular praise for Iain Dale at LBC and the fantastic trio of Jon Sopel, Emily Maitlis and Lewis Goodall at The News Agents – I walked into Tesco for lunch today and the first person I saw, just starting their shop, had a shopping basket containing only today's copy of The Daily Mail. She lumbered onwards in search for her lunch time meal deal.
After all, bullshit is always easier to swallow with a refreshing soft drink.
