Privacy: How earlier BBC scandals have impacted the naming of the suspended presenter

With rising requires the presenter dealing with allegations to be named, a earlier BBC scandal lies behind one of many causes news organisations are reluctant to disclose his identification.

There was a giant change to the best way the media approached reporting after Sir Cliff Richard, 82, received a privacy case in 2018 against the BBC over its protection of a South Yorkshire Police raid on his residence in Sunningdale, Berkshire, after he was falsely accused of historic intercourse offences.

This was bolstered in a landmark Supreme Court ruling final yr in a case regarding an American businessman – known as ZXC – which stated that an individual being investigated for against the law typically has “a reasonable expectation of privacy”.

BBC presenter scandal – latest updates

Although the unnamed presenter isn’t at present below investigation by police, each instances have had a major impact on the best way the media report allegations in opposition to high-profile figures as news organisations are inclined to err on the aspect of warning relatively than danger dealing with costly authorized motion.

However, there’s a nice steadiness between the correct to privateness and freedom of expression and the legislation is unsure, with interpretation particular to the details of every case.

Hedge fund supervisor Crispin Odey, for instance, was final month named by the Financial Times and Tortoise Media in relation to allegations by 13 ladies that he had sexually assaulted them or harassed them over a 25-year interval. He has denied the claims.

And it has been extensively reported that BBC Radio 1 DJ Tim Westwood has been questioned by police twice this yr over 5 alleged intercourse offences stated to have taken place between 1982 and 2016.

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The 65-year-old, who left the BBC in 2013 and stepped down from his present on Capital Xtra in April final yr, strongly denies the allegations.

An unbiased inquiry into what the company knew about allegations of sexual misconduct is predicted to publish its findings in the summertime.

Privacy and defamation legal guidelines work aspect by aspect and media lawyers and editors will weigh both before publishing a story.

Celebrities have usually seemed to the courts for cover, searching for injunctions to cease publishers figuring out them in relation to allegations they’ve confronted – or suing, like Sir Cliff, after they consider their rights had been breached.

Named by MPs

MPs have beforehand named stars protected by the courts, together with former Topshop proprietor Sir Philip Green, who was named by former cupboard minister Lord Hain regardless of an injunction stopping The Daily Telegraph from figuring out the businessman in relation to allegations in opposition to him.

Similarly, in 2011, Liberal Democrat MP John Hemming named then Manchester United participant Ryan Giggs because the footballer on the centre of a Twitter row about injunctions.

Other celebrities have been extra profitable in defending their identities – in 2016, the Supreme Court dominated an injunction banning the naming of a star – often called PJS – concerned in an alleged extra-marital affair ought to keep in place.

The Sun on Sunday argued it ought to have the ability to publish his title as a result of it had already been printed in Scotland and the US.

But judges dominated there may be “no right to invade privacy” simply because he and his partner, often called YMA, with whom he had younger kids, had been well-known.