BBC presenter Huw Edwards suspended over paying for sexual pics.

[Bingoman]

View attachment 382984

That's thoroughly nice of them...

I'm in shock that the sun are going co-operate with the BBC

 

[Serge Forward]

Forgive me if I've missed something here as I've not followed much of this story, but is it the case that Edwards has broken no laws and the complaint was from the young person's parents (the young person being an adult who had nowt to do with the complaint)? If yes, why do a lot of people seem to be going along with the hypocritical bullshit disapproving moralism of the Sun and Daily Mail? What am I missing?

 

[Karl Masks]

Forgive me if I've missed something here as I've not followed much of this story, but is it the case that Edwards has broken no laws and the complaint was from the young person's parents (the young person being an adult who had nowt to do with the complaint)? If yes, why do a lot of people seem to be going along with the hypocritical bullshit disapproving moralism of the Sun and Daily Mail? What am I missing?

Variously:
1. He promoted lockdowns/the jab
2. The BBC are all nonces
3. "mental health" is an excuse

Britain is a hellscape that cannot be saved

 

[kenny g]

I stopped my license fee years back after Russel Brand and that other twat insulted someone's grandfather in a crap phone call and it was broadcast.

I don't buy the mental health angle at all beyond him having been caught and am quite happy I don't have to pay a penny to any of them.

 

[kenny g]

https://archive.ph/E4P7B is interesting..

 

[elbows]

Forgive me if I've missed something here as I've not followed much of this story, but is it the case that Edwards has broken no laws and the complaint was from the young person's parents (the young person being an adult who had nowt to do with the complaint)? If yes, why do a lot of people seem to be going along with the hypocritical bullshit disapproving moralism of the Sun and Daily Mail? What am I missing?

That was indeed the starting point but there was the 'was the BBC taking its responsibilities seriously?' angle and since then theres been an attempt to snowball things into a story of a wider pattern of inappropriate behaviour. There were a few signs today that the next chapter of that could involve colleagues comments about behaviour, but the mental health angle and the BBCs own investigation might change the timing of further chapters and the tone of reporting.

 

[Serge Forward]

That was indeed the starting point but there was the 'was the BBC taking its responsibilities seriously?' angle and since then theres been an attempt to snowball things into a story of a wider pattern of inappropriate behaviour. There were a few signs today that the next chapter of that could involve colleagues comments about behaviour, but the mental health angle and the BBCs own investigation might change the timing of further chapters and the tone of reporting.

Is there a pattern of inappropriate behaviour? Is it illegal or noncey behaviour? Or is it just more shit from the Murdoch cunts?

 

[Kevbad the Bad]

I suggest everyone speculates for another week until we actually find out.

 

[elbows]

Is there a pattern of inappropriate behaviour? Is it illegal or noncey behaviour? Or is it just more shit from the Murdoch cunts?

Well inappropriate covers a lot of territory, including stuff that will extend well beyond the sort of moralising that the Sun etc indulge in.

A sense of what counts as inappropriate is also affected by public personas and their roles, and expectations attached to particular roles. Theres a sort of unreal, 'wholesome', values driven sense of responsibility attached to some roles including flagship news bulletin presenter for the state broadcaster, and when cracks appear in these veneers it becomes some sort of issue that generates hand-wringing, no matter how much hypocrisy is actually involved if we take a step back and view things from a more realistic human perspective. Real human Individuals are secondary to manufactured propaganda persona aspects when it comes to the 'responsibilities' placed on those who are used to tell the ongoing stories of a nation. We are not, for example, supposed to think of the person who 'holds the nations hand when announcing the death of the queen' as someone with genitals, as someone with complex contradictions in their private life, etc.

The scandal is mostly crap theatre so far, but in some ways the nature of their job was a different sort of crap theatre too. When people become more interested in the gossip behind the curtain, some things become untenable and new impossible plastic figureheads are deemed necessary.

 

[Aladdin]

The sheer nerve of the Wail...

"The unnamed presenter was accused of defying the third national lockdown for an encounter with a young person in 2021 while the BBC was at the same time telling millions of people to follow the rules as part of its coverage of the pandemic."

Is this someone else?

 

[Cloo]

OK, so he's a dodgy fucker, no actual crime occurred and I don't think the BBC should be expected to 'do something about it' but of course the Mail etc will be crowing about 'Crisis-hit BBC etc'

Amusing that David Yelland has been saying that it's now more of a crisis for the Sun than the BBC, and I really hope that's the case.

 

[SpookyFrank]

The sheer nerve of the Wail...

"The unnamed presenter was accused of defying the third national lockdown for an encounter with a young person in 2021 while the BBC was at the same time telling millions of people to follow the rules as part of its coverage of the pandemic."

Didn't the Mail tell everyone to ignore lockdown rules?

 

[elbows]

Didn't the Mail tell everyone to ignore lockdown rules?

All the anti-lockdown news entities are a mess, dont look for consistency. Well, the only consistency is that they still want to undermine lockdown by any means necessary, which includes making a big deal out of prominent people breaking those rules at the time.

I also recall that even those entities that were broadly against lockdowns still fell into line during the peaks of the first two waves, they only stuck to their stance when they had the luxury of doing so, when they didnt have state actors reminding them of their responsibilities when the shit was really hitting the fan.

 

[elbows]

BBC Newsnight has also spoken to one current and one former BBC worker who said they’d received inappropriate messages from Edwards, some late at night and signed off with kisses.

One said they felt it was an abuse of power by someone very senior in the organisation. Both workers who spoke to Newsnight, and the other employee, spoke of a reluctance among junior staff to complain to managers about the conduct of high-profile colleagues in case it adversely affected their careers.

A BBC employee has told BBC News they received “suggestive” messages from Edwards that made them feel uncomfortable. BBC News has seen the messages, which refer to the staff member’s appearance and were sent this year.

Describing a power dynamic that made the messages “inappropriate”, the employee called on BBC managers to look into the relationship dynamics between presenters and junior staff.

"They have huge salaries and great deference is shown to presenters," said the employee, who said they were nevertheless proud to work for the BBC.

From recent entries on the BBCs live updates page: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-66159469

 

[not a trot]

Rod Liddle on BBC Newsnight. Never realised what a total cunt he is.

 

[Bingoman]

Rod Liddle on BBC Newsnight. Never realised what a total cunt he is.

Just seen him what a fool

 

[Plumdaff]

I do really hope they keep up the lock down breaking angle, given that The Scum and The Mail are the only places that made Downing Street look cautious and sober during the pandemic.

 

[belboid]

1 - Twitter twats named six BBC presenters over the weekend, four had denied it was them, leaving only Graham Norton & Huw Edwards.

I think this reflects pretty well on Norton. At the beginning of the week he was the most common name on twitter (that I saw, anyway). He left himself in the frame by not ruling himself out and by so doing helped Edwards avoid the glare for a bit [edit: & must have got loads of shit thrown at him personally]. Saying it wasn't him would have left only one person in the picture. Obviously it would have helped him come to that decision by knowing it wasn't him, but that is still more than a twat like Vine was prepared to do.

 

[belboid]

Well the BBC has always treated stories about itself as matters of the most importance, even when its bad news.

nah, they don't really have any choice, What would the papers say if they didn't give it lead coverage? It would be more the 'BBC tries to downplay abuse scandal' bollocks. Same reason they come put full out and attack the Sun's hypocritical bullshit on the story.

 

[elbows]

nah, they don't really have any choice, What would the papers say if they didn't give it lead coverage? It would be more the 'BBC tries to downplay abuse scandal' bollocks. Same reason they come put full out and attack the Sun's hypocritical bullshit on the story.

Its not just that others would attack them, its that the entire format of modern propaganda that the BBC has been masters of for nearly 100 years involves building up a sense of credibility and impartiality and then using that.

As for my complaint, its not so much that they give it lead story prominence, its the sheer length of time they dedicate to it, and the level of self-important language used.

 

[elbows]

I did laugh yesterday that the BBC were doing the whole 'BBC News is separate from the rest of the BBC' thing when covering the story, even though the story was very much about BBC News and it was only a matter of time before that became clear.

 

[xenon]

Rod Liddle on BBC Newsnight. Never realised what a total cunt he is.

Where you been for the last 20 years?

 

[twistedAM]

From recent entries on the BBCs live updates page: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-66159469

Just listening to Radio 4 news and it sounds like he was workplace sex pest. He was getting a lot of sympathy (coupled with anti-Sun sentiment) this evening and then some colleagues stick the boot in.

 

[donkyboy]

And the pictures were sent from.......Huw Edwards phone! What can we call this: newsgate? edgate?

 

[Raheem]

Just listening to Radio 4 news and it sounds like he was workplace sex pest. He was getting a lot of sympathy (coupled with anti-Sun sentiment) this evening and then some colleagues stick the boot in.

That story's lacking detail so far, though. "Inappropiate" comments in emails, which could be anywhere along the scale.

 

[editor]

This is an interesting piece showing how the shitty scummy Sun is now trying to backtrack on its claims:

Rupert Murdoch’s newspaper is facing serious questions over its reporting and ethical standards, after it alleged Edwards paid a 17-year-old for explicit images – only for police to conclude there was no evidence to support this allegation of serious criminal wrongdoing.


Days later, his wife said Edwards is in a hospital dealing with “serious mental health issues” and the newspaper is rapidly backtracking on its original story. Extraordinarily, on Wednesday night the Sun insisted its initial claim that the presenter had given a young person “more than £35,000 since they were 17 in return for sordid images” was not a suggestion of criminal activity.

Even before the police had cleared Edwards of illegal behaviour, doubts started to emerge over the Sun’s key allegation that he bought pictures from a 17-year-old. The young person in question, now an adult aged 20, issued a statement on Monday their lawyer saying the allegations were “rubbish”.

They also insisted they had told the Sun prior to publication that the story was wrong and no illegal behaviour took place, yet the newspaper had failed to flag this denial in any of its reporting.

Shortly before Edwards was named, one BBC journalist questioned whether a flawed story had been used as a battering ram for other pieces. They said: “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.”

But it is the Sun which is now facing serious questions – and a potential legal risk: Edwards has used his Twitter account to like a tweet suggesting the Sun could now “face the mother of all libel actions”.

The Sun finds itself in line of fire over report on Huw Edwards

Days after publication, the newsreader is in hospital with mental health issues and the paper is rapidly backtracking

www.theguardian.com

 

[AnnO'Neemus]

Do we think that sun helped speed up his health issues?

Huw Edwards has a longstanding medical history of depression. So it's not something that he's conveniently made up to try to escape responsibility or evoke sympathy. Although, of course, the Sun's reporting could possibly have exacerbated it, brought on a relapse/mental health crisis.

Huw Edwards tells of 20-year struggle with depression

BBC’s chief newsreader says illness has at times been so severe it has left him ‘bedridden’

www.theguardian.com

 

[editor]

Huw Edwards has a longstanding medical history of depression. So it's not something that he's conveniently made up to try to escape responsibility or evoke sympathy. Although, of course, the Sun's reporting could possibly have exacerbated it, brought on a relapse/mental health crisis.

Huw Edwards tells of 20-year struggle with depression

BBC’s chief newsreader says illness has at times been so severe it has left him ‘bedridden’

www.theguardian.com

Many years ago, I once found myself the centre of a comparatively nano-sized Twitter storm, with people all piling in to post up hurtful, damaging and defamatory comments about me. Some of those lining up to put in the boot in were people I'd considered friends.
It was fucking horrible. It was painful. My mental health plummeted and if I hadn't plucked up the courage to stop looking at Twitter for a few days, things could have got much worse for me.

In terms of Twitter pile-ons it was obviously barely noticeable, but it affected me for ages.

But I really can't even begin to imagine what it must be like for someone already suffering with depression to have the full weight of social media and traditional media weighing down on them. Social media can - quite literally - kill.

Oh, and fuck The Sun.

 

[gosub]

Huw Edwards Discusses Mental Health, Grief and His 20-year Struggle with Depression

Recently, BBC’s chief newsreader admitted to a 20-year struggle with depression. He discusses grief, Welshness and the future of Auntie

www.menshealth.com

 

[AnnO'Neemus]

I stopped my license fee years back after Russel Brand and that other twat insulted someone's grandfather in a crap phone call and it was broadcast.

I don't buy the mental health angle at all beyond him having been caught and am quite happy I don't have to pay a penny to any of them.

He does have a longstanding history of depression.

Huw Edwards tells of 20-year struggle with depression

BBC’s chief newsreader says illness has at times been so severe it has left him ‘bedridden’

www.theguardian.com