A presenter in hospital.
A corporation battered.
The lid lifted on life inside the BBC.
It’s been a bruising week for bosses at the corporation.
Stressful for staff.
Upsetting for those who’ve such affection for the telly star who on the nightly news – for 20 years – has held viewers hands through the best and worst of times in recent history.
Let it be known that there’s no schadenfreude on the part of reporters standing outside. Edwards is hugely well-thought of as one of this country’s finest broadcasters.
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“Why don’t you leave the poor man alone?” a woman walking along the street shouted this morning at the bank of cameras outside of New Broadcasting House.
We’re all too aware of reporting this sensitively, believe me, but I stand by the fact that we’re right to still be talking about this.
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Nobody is saying you have to be perfect to be in the public eye. This isn’t Victorian times, modern relationships aren’t always conventional.
But in a role that, by default, embodies BBC values, at the very least a level of integrity and honesty should come with that bumper six figure pay packet.
Take the man out of this and for the BBC itself an even bigger headache – winning back public trust. Proving it can act quickly in a crisis, showing that it isn’t above taking its talent to task if it needs to.
On this it’s looked slow and incompetent, taking seven weeks to talk to Edwards is surely inexcusable.
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Of course, Edwards must prioritise getting better.
While no criminal offence has been committed, but with new allegations reported of staff, current and former, allegedly receiving social media messages from the anchor which made them feel uncomfortable, this now becomes something else.
Workplace culture must be put in the spotlight, whistleblowing procedures checked and the power balance dynamic examined.
It is a mess. Battered, bruised, the BBC is reeling.
