BBC woman presenter ‘showed lewd picture to colleague'

Telegraph

15 hours ago

The BBC is facing a fresh crisis over claims a prominent female presenter showed a lewd picture to a colleague.
The presenter, who has not been named, was ranked among the corporation's top 50 highest-paid employees this year, according to reports.
She is said to have apologised to the junior member of staff for showing them the unsolicited nude photograph of an unknown man.
The incident marks the latest blow to the beleaguered broadcaster, which has been plagued by scandals in recent years including ones affecting its Strictly Come Dancing and MasterChef shows.
It was also revealed earlier this year that the BBC spent more than £1.3m on the fallout of the Huw Edwards scandal, including £340,000 on legal advice over the decision to suspend the disgraced newscaster on full pay.
A source told The Sun newspaper that the latest incident was 'a ticking time bomb' for the broadcaster.
They added: 'As soon as the name of this woman – and details of her bad behaviour – are unleashed, it will derail entire departments and mark the first female to be formally swept up into the BBC's wrongdoing roll call.'
They went on to say that the release of the presenter's name would be 'seismic'.
The source added that the decision to show her junior colleague the indecent photograph was meant to be 'jokey, locker-room type banter'. But the younger employee had been 'completely horrified,' and said she 'cried about it'.
'No one minds a bit of office banter, but this was on another level,' the source added.
'She felt like it was an intentionally shocking move to intimidate, veiled as a joke. It was way too much. The woman had to apologise to the girl.'
Meanwhile, Jermaine Jenas, the former Match of the Day presenter, has spoken about the fallout from his sacking by the BBC in August last year.
He was dismissed after he was accused of sexting two female employees.
Speaking to a podcast on Wednesday, the former Tottenham player claimed former colleagues at the BBC took away his life 'in terms of every deal I had, the jobs that I had at that particular time'.
He told the Reece Mennie podcast: 'I said that is never happening to me again, so I've recently set up my own production company.'
He added: 'This is not their fault, but when you're in this kind of media bubble where you work for the BBC, there are so many walls in terms of what they want you to do and what you're not allowed to do.'
In April, an independent review commissioned in the wake of the Edwards scandal found that the BBC continues to reward 'untouchable' stars by letting their bad behaviour go unpunished.
The report found some presenters are so problematic that they are 'man-marked' by BBC managers who act as a buffer between them and more junior staff.
'We heard examples of well-known names not being held to account for poor behaviour,' it said.
'A small number of people can become 'untouchable' in the eyes of colleagues. They are known for getting away with poor behaviour, and their reputation spreads beyond their immediate team.'
A BBC spokesman said about the latest incident: 'While we do not comment on individual cases, we take all complaints about conduct at work extremely seriously.'