EXCLUSIVE: BBC News journalists had begun work on a potential exposé about Huw Edwards prior to The Sun newspaper sparking a UK media storm about the presenter, Deadline can reveal.
BBC sources said Newsnight anchor Victoria Derbyshire was examining accusations about Edwards’ conduct in the days before The Sun made explosive claims about the star allegedly paying a teenager for explicit images.
Derbyshire’s reporting last week raised eyebrows among some BBC staff and it is not clear if senior editors in the news unit were aware of the work. The revelation has also sparked questions over whether allegations about Edwards were circulating in the newsroom and if senior managers were informed.
Newsnight broadcast its findings on Wednesday night, just hours after Edwards was named as the presenter who had been suspended by the BBC after five days in which his identity was kept out of mainstream media reporting.
The BBC2 show reported that Edwards allegedly sent “inappropriate” and “suggestive” messages to junior BBC employees, including making comments about their appearance. Though not criminal in nature, they were deemed by one recipient to be a potential abuse of power.
Derbyshire was credited with the reporting. BBC News Special Correspondent Lucy Manning and Luke Jones, a radio presenter, were also involved in the story.
Edwards has not responded to any of the allegations against him and was in hospital on Wednesday, suffering from serious mental health issues. A lawyer for Edwards was contacted for comment.
The BBC has said it will resume its investigation into the claims against Edwards after the police determined that the original allegations made by The Sun did not involve illegal activity. The corporation declined to comment on its reporting.
There is some dispute about how much work Derbyshire dedicated to the Edwards story prior to The Sun‘s front page splash last Friday.
Two BBC insiders said Derbyshire had been looking into the issue for “a while” and had contacted multiple individuals regarding rumors about Edwards’ alleged behavior.
A third BBC source downplayed the work, saying that she had a conversation with one individual, but ultimately deemed that there was no evidence of wrongdoing on the part of Edwards. This source said they would not describe the reporting as an investigation.
BBC insiders said it was highly unusual for one news presenter to proactively look into a fellow BBC News presenter. One source said it was “surreal,” but another argued that it was on-brand for Derbyshire, saying she styles herself as a “voice for the underdogs.”
BBC News anchor Huw Edwards
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BBC News has played an important role in expanding a fast-moving and messy narrative about Edwards. On Tuesday afternoon, Manning reported on allegations from a second young person, who claimed he had received menacing and abusive messages from Edwards after threatening to identify the presenter having met him on a dating app.
Former BBC journalists have voiced disquiet at the idea of reporters investigating one of their own. Emily Maitlis, the former Newsnight presenter, said on her podcast The News Agents that it was “a bit distasteful” for journalists to be reporting on the allegations rather than referring them to management.
“If you know this stuff about a colleague, why isn’t your first duty to then go to HR or a senior manager … rather than turning it into a news story,” Maitlis said.
The BBC’s extensive coverage on Edwards has attracted criticism, particularly as police have seen no evidence of criminal behavior and the presenter is now in hospital with mental health issues. “The relish with which the BBC sits down to eat itself never ceases to amaze me,” said one source.
A senior insider said it was a “no-win” situation for BBC News. There is a feeling among some that if BBC News coverage had not been comprehensive, it could be accused of ignoring the scandal or worse, attempting to cover it up. Others have accused the BBC of self-flagellation.
The wall-to-wall output has led to surreal, but not entirely unusual scenes of BBC reporters standing outside the BBC’s headquarters reporting on the BBC’s corporate handling of misconduct allegations against an unnamed BBC star.
“With stories like this one, BBC News journalists treat the BBC in the same way as any other organization the news service reports on,” BBC News has said in an editorial note appended to stories on the matter.
Others have noted their admiration for the BBC’s approach. CNN’s Senior Media Reporter Oliver Darcy described the BBC’s reporting as “unflinching” in an analysis piece on Wednesday.
