'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
On Wednesday, July 12, both BBC Radio 4 and BBC News revealed that BBC’s senior broadcaster Huw Edwards was being treated in a hospital for mental health-related troubles. They also reported that the said presenter was facing allegations of misconduct.
The news fueled speculations that Huw Edwards is the BBC presenter accused of paying thousands of pounds to a minor over a period of three years in exchange for explicit images of the youngster.
In light of the recent news about Edwards being hospitalized for mental-health related reasons, former senior BBC journalist Jon Sopel slammed the network for exposing Huw Edwards as the presenter at the center of the scandal. In a tweet, Sopel, who now leads The News Agents podcast, accused BBC of handling the situation poorly:
Earlier, Huw Edwards’ name emerged when a Snapchat video of him showing off his b*ttocks surfaced on the internet. Following that, his name re-emerged when BBC broadcaster Victoria Derbyshire made an on-air slip-up during Monday’s episode of Newsnight, almost revealing Huw Edwards as the accused.
Jon Sopel is a former colleague of Huw Edwards
Now aged 64, Jonathan B. Sopel, popularly known as Jon Sopel, is a London-based British journalist, TV presenter, and a former correspondent for BBC News. He began his career as a freelance writer and broadcaster before joining BBC as a reporter in 1983.
Immediately, he was appointed as the producer for BBC Radio Solent for his exemplary speaking skills.
Thereafter, he went on to become the chief political correspondent for BBC News 24, following which he spent three years in Paris as BBC’s foreign correspondent, until 2000. In 2003, during the invasion of Iraq, he was BBC’s correspondent in Kuwait City.
However, it wasn’t until 2005 that Jon Sopel earned his fame as a political journalist when he was appointed as the main presenter of BBC One’s The Political Show, which ran till December 2011 and saw Jon Sopel interview key politicians every Sunday at noon.
Besides that, he also co-presented BBC News alongside legends like Louise Minchin and Emily Maitlis.
During his three-decade-long career with the BBC, he has been part of nearly all its shows, be it Radio Four, Breakfast News, BBC News at One, BBC News at Six, BBC News at Ten, Newsnight, HARDtalk, and The Daily Politics. He was also the recipient of the 2007 Political Journalist of the Year award.
In October 2012, Sopel became the presenter of BBC World News’ new program, Global With Jon Sopel, which aired every Monday to Thursday from 3 pm to 4:30 pm. However, he is best remembered for having interviewed the Emir of Dubai in January 2014, something which was a rare occasion.
Fast forward to 2020, his career track changed when he began presenting a BBC podcast called Americast alongside Emily Maitlis and Anthony Zurcher, which became a huge sensation. In October 2021, Sopel announced a break from BBC to write a book, and finally, in February 2022, he announced his exit from BBC.
Interestingly, Jon Sopel and Huw Edwards often crossed paths and were colleagues. In fact, they both began as lobby correspondents for BBC and worked together throughout the 1980s and early 1990s.
At present, Jon Sopel co-hosts an LBC podcast and joint radio show, called The News Agent with his former BBC colleague Emily Maitlis and Lewis Goodall. The program was launched in August 2022.
Jon Sopel criticized the BBC's handling of its recent scandal
In his aforementioned tweet, Jon Sopel praised the BBC for tackling Huw Edwards’ mental health issue delicately, but criticized the network for revealing that he has been put on suspension and was the one involved in the scandal.
For those unaware, last week, The Sun reported that a senior male BBC presenter gave 35,000 pounds over three years (2020 to 2023) to a teenager in exchange for s*xually explicit images and stripping over video calls. According to the youngster’s mother, her child used the money to fund a crack cocaine addiction.
As per the mother, she went and complained directly to the BBC in mid-May, but a lack of proper action eventually forced her to go to the press last week.
As of Wednesday, the Metropolitan Police investigating the case didn’t deem it a criminal one. In fact, the lawyer representing the minor also said that the claims made by The Sun and their client’s mother were “rubbish” and “nothing inappropriate or unlawful” occurred.
BBC confirmed on Wednesday that Huw Edwards was receiving in-patient medical care at a hospital for his mental health issues and also indirectly linked him to the ongoing scandal.
Jon Sopel was critical of this move by the BBC and came in defense of his former colleague Huw Edwards. He wished him well and said that there was no proof of “criminality,” but rather an instance of a “complicated private life.” He even sent his best wishes to Huw Edwards.
Besides empathizing with his former colleague on Twitter, Jon Sopel also appeared on the LBC radio show alongside Andrew Marr, where he seemed to slam his former colleagues at the network:
“I think some of my colleagues in BBC News need to look at themselves.”
When Marr asked whether Sopel felt that the BBC “behaved effectively or well or rightly” in handling The Sun’s allegations, the latter responded by saying:
“Well, I think the BBC is a complicated beast. It would be lovely to think of it as a sort of streamlined organization where one bit knows what the other bit is doing, but the BBC is a series of totally uncoordinated limbs…Does the one know what the other is doing?”
As for Huw Edwards, Jon Sopel said to Andrew Marr:
“Well, I’ve known Huw for probably 35 years. We were lobby correspondents together at Westminster, probably when you were on The Scotsman or something like that, at the end of the 1980s, early 90s. And worked together for a decade. You know, when I was in Washington, he would come over regularly and I would see him there. Look, I think it's been a brutal time for him.”
Prior to slamming BBC, Jon Sopel also disagreed with another former BBC colleague Jeremy Vine, who had demanded that the unnamed presenter should come forward and reveal their identity. Sopel replied to Vine on his The News Agents podcast, where he spoke about the presenter working "it out himself":
“I think that whoever the presenter is, needs to work it out himself. I cannot begin to imagine the sort of pressure, the sort of anguish, the turmoil that is going on in his life.”
Later, he also added in a tweet addressing Jeremy Vines:
“I think it’s none of our business.”
As for Huw Edwards, this isn’t the first time that his mental health issue has grabbed public attention. Earlier, in May 2022, during an interview with Alastair Campbell, the BBC presenter openly discussed his day-to-day struggle with depression and how it affects his life and overall well-being.
In fact, he also said that he had been battling on-and-off anxiety and depression since 2002. He also confessed how his mental health conditions hit him in waves, thus impacting his ability to make decisions and enjoy activities and frequently rendering him bedridden.
