Don’t Bury Serious Sexual Misconduct Allegations

Target: Tim Davie, Director General of BBC

Goal: Improve process for receiving and responding to allegations of sexual abuse involving news presenters.

A respected news correspondent who has served nearly four decades as a leading presenter at the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has been hit with multiple allegations of sexual misconduct. The most prominent accusation to rock the network relates to sexually explicit photos allegedly exchanged between a 17-year-old and presenter Huw Edwards in exchange for money. While the BBC has faced backlash for its handling of the matter since it was made public, the company’s culpability could be more far-reaching.

According to reports, the BBC was made aware of at least one of these allegations months ago, yet it failed to launch a full-throated investigation at the time. Over a decade ago, the company faced a similar scandal after another famous personality was accused of multiple incidents of sexual abuse. Although the BBC had reportedly received complaints about this alleged abuse over a 40-year timespan, they never truly investigated these claims either. Despite supposed reforms to the complaints process at that time, problems with reporting allegations and having these claims reach top leaders still persist.

Sign the petition below to demand the review currently being made to this deficient process result in real and meaningful action.

PETITION LETTER:

Dear Director General Davie,

In the wake of the latest BBC sex scandal, you have acknowledged that improvements could and should occur to the company’s red-flag complaints procedures. If these necessary amendments had been made following other scandals, perhaps the latest damaging controversy could have been avoided. Please put words into action this time.

A robust and transparent complaints process can provide victims some measure of justice, lead to fairer due process for the accused, and help ensure these deeply disturbing histories do not repeat themselves and ruin more lives needlessly.

Sincerely,

[Your Name Here]

Photo Credit: Michael Gwyther-Jones