Could Huw Edwards have a case for libel?
The News Agents
Global
4.1 • 5.4K Ratings
🗓️ 13 July 2023
⏱️ 38 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The world's worst kept secret was revealed last night when Huw Edwards was named as the BBC presenter at the centre of the media storm.
In an emotional statement, his wife revealed he was in hospital and in a bad way. The Sun decided not to print further allegations. The BBC's own news teams went ahead with new breaking stories.
Where do we draw the line between HR complaints and investigative reporting?
Former editor of The Sun, David Yelland, is back with us - he asks if the BBC understand the asymmetric war being waged on it by News UK.
And later - has Boris Johnson really forgotten the pin number of his mobile phone?
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Newsagents podcast is brought to you by HSBC UK, opening up a world of opportunity. |
| 0:09.1 | This is a global player original podcast. |
| 0:13.2 | Last night, just before 6 o'clock, we heard from the wife of the presenter, Hugh Edwards. |
| 0:19.9 | Vicky Flind came forward with a statement that, if you like, outed her husband as the man at the centre of the BBC presenter scandal. It was brave and it was surprising. Although many people in the country will already have known who it was, |
| 0:41.0 | it kind of stopped the story in its tracks. |
| 0:46.6 | And Vicky also went on to say that Hugh, who had suffered from depression, |
| 0:52.3 | had now been admitted to hospital with serious mental health issues and that it was a very difficult time for all concerned |
| 0:56.1 | that the previous five days had been horrible. But on BBC News, they carried on with the story |
| 1:02.0 | and their own investigation into fresh allegations surrounding him, even though they had |
| 1:08.6 | just read out on air that he was in hospital with mental health issues. |
| 1:12.5 | So we're finding our way in this episode, asking questions about where investigative journalism is about doing your job properly, |
| 1:21.1 | where it becomes invasive to privacy and mental health, and what we have learnt, if anything, from the way this whole scandal has been |
| 1:30.9 | covered. Welcome to the newsagents. The news agents. It's John. It's Emily. And as we sit here, |
| 1:41.8 | we are puzzling questions about the very nature of journalism |
| 1:45.7 | when it goes too far and when it has to carry on doing its job in the face of a changing story. |
| 1:54.0 | And as John said, there were fresh allegations coming out about the texts that Hugh Edwards was purportedly sending to younger colleagues at the BBC |
| 2:03.9 | at the same time as the news organisation was telling us about his severe depression and the fact that he was |
| 2:12.6 | currently in hospital. And I think it raises really important questions about how the nature of journalism |
| 2:19.7 | and the nature of privacy has to co-exist and whether we actually know where that balance is. |
| 2:25.3 | Because I would say that today, when the story broke really, there was an error of something |
| 2:29.3 | must be done. Everyone knew that something had changed, that this poor man was in hospital, and that was |
| 2:36.8 | absolutely appalling. And yet, obviously, there will be journalists here saying, but that doesn't |
... |
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