As Huw Edwards stood for his sentencing after pleading guilty to accessing child abuse images, he clasped his hands and projected a neutral expression. It was a pose millions of BBC viewers will have seen Edwards strike countless times as the seasoned presenter delivered the day’s headlines. His audience on this occasion, however, was a courtroom.
The 63-year-old news anchor was ultimately spared jail after a judge ruled that his guilty plea, remorse, exemplary professional record, and existential mental health struggles were mitigation enough for a suspended sentence. Some believe Edwards is lucky not to be behind bars after viewing unspeakably indecent images of children as young as seven, but as the judge unsparingly reminded him, his reputation and career prospects are in tatters.
Soon after Edwards walked out of Westminster Magistrates’ Court a registered sex offender, the thoughts of some of his former colleagues shifted to the next staging post in this story: a major BBC workplace culture review. The BBC’s board has pledged to examine potential “power imbalances” that exist within its workforce. The British broadcaster was not privy to the sickening contents of Edwards’ WhatsApp inbox, but believes his conduct has raised uncomfortable questions that require a moment of introspection.
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The BBC board promised to appoint an individual to lead the review and set out a terms of reference by early September. Edwards’ sentencing was a reminder that early September has come and gone, and no announcement has been made about the inquiry. This has not gone unnoticed among insiders. “It doesn’t invoke confidence that they are committed to really looking at the problems within the organization,” said one person. BBC managers are confident they will have something to say soon, with those briefed on the plans stressing that it is important to get the review right rather than rush to meet a deadline.
The inquiry is already a matter of considerable interest internally, with BBC employees hoping to use it as an opportunity to dish the dirt on those they accuse of misconduct. There is even a suggestion that some employees will take the opportunity to relitigate grievances already investigated internally by the BBC. “It is completely rife. Not just sexual harassment, but bullying and bad behavior,” said a BBC employee close to complaints processes.
You need only look at the last workplace culture review to see that it could open a Pandora’s box for the BBC. The 2013 Respect at Work Review, led by employment law barrister Dinah Rose, resulted in a deluge of allegations about BBC power players from nearly 1,000 staff. The National Union of Journalists handed Rose and BBC executives a 109-page dossier of complaints, which included allegations of a manager sexting graduates and a female journalist being offered a promotion on the condition of a sexual liaison at her boss’ country cottage.
Similar claims have been made against BBC stars in recent months, with the corporation moving to resolve misconduct complaints against Match of the Day pundit Jermaine Jenas (accused of sending inappropriate messages to junior female colleagues) and Strictly Come Dancing professional Graziano Di Prima (accused of kicking dance partner Zara McDermott). In total, there have been 645 sexual misconduct, bullying and harassment cases at the BBC over the past decade.
Elements of Rose’s findings read as if they could have been written yesterday. She concluded that some powerful BBC insiders consider themselves to be “untouchable,” a charge that has been repeatedly leveled at Edwards in recent months.
Rose said in 2013 that employees were “fearful of raising complaints” and had a “weary” lack of confidence that justice would be done if they filed a grievance. Again, this finding has repeatedly reared its head in recent staff surveys. Rose also said the BBC needs to resolve complaints in a shorter time frame, yet the corporation is failing to honor its pledge to conclude misconduct cases in 30 days.
The BBC board said last month that “much progress” has been made in recent years around extolling the corporation’s values and holding people accountable for wrongdoing. Misconduct exists in virtually all big workforces and the BBC does think harder about these issues than most. But what the corporation cannot afford is another review, another set of similar conclusions, and a bunch of familiar recommendations that all need to be repeated in another decade.
Sources say Huw Edwards’ humbling was revealed to a hushed BBC newsroom on Monday, but the noise will rise as employees reflect on the fallout from his dramatic fall from grace.
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