Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Weeks after flouting tax norms in India and its disgraced chairman quitting on corruption charges, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), a self-proclaimed defender of ‘free’ journalism worldwide, is now being accused of not disclosing the name of an anchor, suspended for payments in a sex scandal.
The media reported on Monday that the BBC on Sunday suspended a male presenter who allegedly paid a teenager £35,000 (Rs 37 lakh) for sexually explicit pictures. The child spent the money on cocaine.
However, neither tabloid The Sun, which first broke the story, nor the BBC named the perpetrator.
Some British politicians demanded a rapid investigation into the accusations, to which the BBC said that it was working to establish the facts of “a complex and fast-moving set of circumstances.”
The presenter allegedly started paying money three years ago when the teen was 17, which is over the age of sexual consent. Though the age of sexual consent in Britain is 16, it’s a crime to make or possess indecent images of anyone under 18.
According to The Sun, which quoted the teenager’s mother, the money was used by the child to purchase drugs, which led to cocaine addiction.
Her child is now 20 and online statements of their bank account showed multiple deposits from the BBC presenter. “There were huge sums, hundreds, or thousands of pounds at a time. One time he had sent £5,000 in one lump. The money had been in exchange for sexually explicit photographs of my child.”
According to the mother, she saw the presenter “stripped to his underpants for a video call” with the teen.
“I blame this BBC man for destroying my child’s life… Taking my child’s innocence and handing over the money for crack cocaine that could kill my child,” she said. Although she complained to the BBC in May, the presenter continued to remain on the air, the media reported.
The BBC claimed it had started an investigation but a detailed probe began only after the tabloid blew the lid up. The broadcaster said in a statement on Sunday that it “first became aware of a complaint in May,” but that “new allegations were put to us on Thursday of a different nature”.
It takes “any allegations seriously and we have robust internal processes in place to proactively deal with such allegations”, it stated, adding the corporation had also been in touch with “external authorities”.
The child’s mother said she felt the BBC was not acting on her complaint and hence decided to speak to the media. “My child said they had run out of money and then suddenly had this cash. It’s obvious to me the BBC hadn’t spoken to this man between our complaint on May 19 and in June as they thought he was too important,” she said.
The woman said that she did not want an investigation and just wanted the BBC to tell the presenter to stop.
Whatever the truth, controversies continue to haunt the BBC for all the wrong reasons. It faces greater scrutiny than other broadcasters because it is taxpayer-funded and committed to remaining impartial in its news coverage.
In March, the BBC was pilloried over free speech and political bias when its leading sports presenter, former England football player Gary Linekar, criticized the government’s immigration policy on social media. He was first suspended and then reinstated after other sports presenters, analysts and Premier League players boycotted the BBC airwaves in solidarity.
In April, BBC Chairman Richard Sharp had to step down after he failed to disclose business links to former prime minister Boris Johnson. The broadcaster also failed to deal with sexual assault allegations against former presenter Tim Westwood.