Frazer: BBC investigating presenter allegations ‘swiftly and sensitively’
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ulture Secretary Lucy Frazer has stated BBC director-general Tim Davie has assured her the company is “investigating swiftly and sensitively” into allegations that an unnamed presenter paid a youngster for sexually specific photographs.
Ms Frazer described the allegations reported by The Sun newspaper as “deeply concerning” and stated the broadcaster now must be given house to research the matter and take acceptable motion.
Her feedback come after the Culture Secretary urgently spoke to Mr Davie on Sunday because the BBC got here beneath stress over its dealing with of the grievance.
Following the telephone name, she tweeted: “I have spoken to BBC director-general Tim Davie about the deeply concerning allegations involving one of its presenters.
“He has assured me the BBC are investigating swiftly and sensitively.”
She added: “Given the nature of the allegations it is important that the BBC is now given the space to conduct its investigation, establish the facts and take appropriate action. I will be kept updated.”
The newspaper stated the BBC star paid the individual, stated to have been 17 when the funds started, £35,000 in change for the photographs.
A DCMS spokeswoman beforehand stated: “These allegations are deeply concerning.
“As a public service broadcaster in receipt of public funding, senior officials have stressed to the BBC that the allegations must be investigated urgently and sensitively, with the department kept informed.”
It is the most recent disaster for Mr Davie to answer after he survived calls to resign over his dealing with of Gary Lineker being briefly taken off air in March after the soccer pundit criticised Home Secretary Suella Braverman’s “cruel” asylum coverage.
The teenager’s mom instructed The Sun she noticed an image of the presenter on her youngster’s telephone “sitting on a sofa in his house in his underwear”.
The mom stated she was instructed it was “a picture from some kind of video call” and appeared like he was “getting ready for my child to perform for him”.
The household have been stated to have complained to the BBC on May 19 however allegedly turned pissed off that the star remained on air. It is known he’s not as a result of be on air within the close to future.
The BBC has been urged to behave “very swiftly” to cope with the claims.
Victoria Atkins, the monetary secretary to the Treasury, instructed Sky’s Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme: “These are very, very serious allegations and the BBC have said they have processes in place.
“But as public attention and concern grows the BBC is going to have to act very swiftly to deal with these allegations and to set out what they are doing to investigate them.”
Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves urged the broadcasters to “speed up their processes” in investigating such allegations, describing their response time as “not good enough” when she appeared on the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg.
Former dwelling secretary Priti Patel stated the BBC’s response has been “derisory”, including: “They must provide the victim and his family a full and transparent investigation.
“The BBC, which is funded by licence fee-payers, has become a faceless and unaccountable organisation.”
Media lawyer Mark Stephens stated the BBC dealing with of the grievance had been a “shambles”, arguing it had “really dropped the ball”.
“And it does seem that they’ve also caused this to escalate, because it was the frustration with the BBC not acting that led to the family to go to the Sun newspaper,” he instructed Times Radio.
“And that I think is reckless, because of course what has happened is we’ve seen all this conjecture on social media.”
If, at any level, new info involves gentle or is offered – together with by way of newspapers – this will likely be acted upon appropriately, in keeping with inside processes
Various BBC stars publicly stated they weren’t the presenter on the centre of the allegations, amid heavy hypothesis concerning the id on social media.
Gary Lineker tweeted: “Hate to disappoint the haters but it’s not me.”
Rylan Clark wrote: “Not sure why my name’s floating about but re that story in the Sun – that ain’t me babe. I’m currently filming a show in Italy for the BBC, so take my name out ya mouths.”
Jeremy Vine stated: “Just to say I’m very much looking forward to hosting my radio show on Monday — whoever the ‘BBC Presenter’ in the news is, I have the same message for you as Rylan did earlier: it certainly ain’t me.”
Nicky Campbell recommended he had contacted police about being falsely talked about on-line in reference to the story.
He tweeted a screenshot which featured the Metropolitan Police brand and the phrases: “Thank you for contacting the Metropolitan Police Service to report your crime.”
“I think it’s important to take a stand. There’s just too many of these people on social media. Thanks for your support friends,” he wrote.
A BBC spokesperson stated: “We treat any allegations very seriously and we have processes in place to proactively deal with them.
“As part of that, if we receive information that requires further investigation or examination we will take steps to do this. That includes actively attempting to speak to those who have contacted us in order to seek further detail and understanding of the situation.
“If we get no reply to our attempts or receive no further contact that can limit our ability to progress things but it does not mean our enquiries stop.
“If, at any point, new information comes to light or is provided – including via newspapers – this will be acted upon appropriately, in line with internal processes.”