Sky News report on Tim Davie pausing investigation
BBC director-general Tim Davie has directly addressed the controversy swirling around the corporation over claims a presenter paid thousands of pounds to a teenager in exchange for explicit photographs – and revealed the BBC has now paused its own investigation.
And he also underlined the key difference between the investigation it launched in May and the one stemming from The Sun newspaper’s report earlier this week – specifically allegations of “criminality”.
The BBC’s Corporate Investigations Team met the force on Monday following The Sun’s report that the unnamed presenter paid a young person around £35,000 over three years, from the age of 17, for explicit images.
Speaking at the annual report press briefing today, Mr Davie said: “It’s important to give you an update on the latest developments.
“This is clearly a complex and difficult situation where we need to manage a number of factors – properly responding to serious allegations, sensitively managing duty of care issues, appropriately respecting the privacy of individuals and justified public interest.
Tim Davie, the BBC’s director-general (Image: BBC)
“We do believe we are navigating these responsibly and judicially but we recognise it’s not easy to do so.
Mr Davie added: “As you know, the BBC Corporate Investigations Team had a meeting with the police in relation to the information provided to the BBC by The Sun newspaper on Thursday July 6.
“As a result of this the BBC has been asked to pause its own investigation into the allegations while they scope future work. We will pass any material that we have to them.
“We know that questions have been asked how this case was initially managed and the timeline of events, so today we have published an update that sets out key dates and further detail.
The BBC is facing some tough questions (Image: GETTY)
“The BBC has processes and protocols for receiving information and managing allegations when they are made.
The BBC has faced criticism over the seven weeks it has taken to put the allegation to the presenter after the initial complaint, which was lodged in May.
Mr Davie stressed: “We always take these matters seriously and seek to manage them with care.
“The events of recent days have shown how complex and challenging these kinds of cases can be and how vital it is they are handled with the upmost diligence.
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Tim Davie addressed the controversy swirling around the BBC (Image: GETTY)
“That is why it is important that we ensure these processes are robust and working appropriately.
“Of course there will be lessons to be learnt, and how processes could be improved.
“Immediately I have asked that we assess how some complaints are red flagged up the organisation.
“We will take time to properly review the current protocols and procedures to ensure they remain sufficient based on anything we learn from this case.
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“This work will be led by our chief operating officer Leigh Tavaziva who will report to the BBC board.”
When asked about the difference between the complaint on May 19 and the complaint made in The Sun story, Tim Davie said: “The process is that we did receive a call as you can see in the timeline on May 19 that was taken by Audience Services Team who then make a summary of the call and put it to our highly experienced Corporate Investigations team.
“On the basis of the information they had at that point, it did not include an allegation of criminality, but none the less was very serious and they wanted to follow it up, and you can see the attempts to follow it up on the timeline.
“It was serious but the key was their assessment was it did not include an allegation of criminality.
“When The Sun made new allegations on July 6 they were different to the matters considered by BBC Corporate Investigations and those new allegations clearly related to potential criminal activity, criminality, that in a nutshell is the difference.”
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