BBC safeguarding policy under scrutiny, after former presenter accused of abusing his position

[PurgatoryOfPotholes]

The Guardian reported today that...

extract

Accusations of sexual misconduct levelled at Tim Westwood while he was working for the BBC have left the broadcaster facing yet another reckoning over whether its safeguarding and whistleblowing procedures are trusted by its staff.

Out of the seven women who made claims about the DJ’s behaviour, five say it took place while Westwood was working for the national broadcaster.

Although none of the allegations relate to incidents that took place on BBC premises, several women suggest the presenter used his position as the highly influential host of the Radio 1 Rap Show to approach them. [Bold mine]

(Continues)

The revelations of the investigation into Westwood’s behaviour also pose questions for commercial media company Global, which has provided Westwood with a show on its Capital Xtra for the last nine years.

In 2020 the media company was approached about concerns raised by anonymous accounts on social media but – accompanied by denials from the presenter – backed him for another two years, before dropping the host on Wednesday. [bold mine]

Westwood has strenuously denied all the allegations against him. A spokesperson for him said: “In a career that has spanned 40 years, there have never been any complaints made against him officially or unofficially. Tim Westwood strongly rejects all allegations of wrongdoing.”

Read more at Tim Westwood Sexual Misconduct Claims Put BBC Safeguarding Under Fresh Scrutiny

Seven women. Seven. That's a lot, and yet, based on past reports on the behaviour of other men, also the kind of number that turns out to be the very small tip of a very large iceberg.

Either some complaints got mysteriously lost down the back of the sofa, or the BBC's whistleblowing procedure is so meaningless, no-one has ever dared make a complaint.

Or maybe both!

In a career that has spanned 40 years, there have never been any complaints made against him officially or unofficially. Tim Westwood strongly rejects all allegations of wrongdoing.”

So the time Capital Xtra were "approached about concerns" expressed on social media doesn't count then? Good to know.

The BBC have a safeguarding policy?

The Guardian know what a safeguarding policy is?

Well duhhhhh. This is news to them?

You beat me to it!

The Guardian probably thinks a safeguarding policy is anything that identifies as a safeguarding policy.

Another paper may yet report the allegations against Westwood with a headline reading "BBC comes under fire for still not having developed a safeguarding policy". There's time.

I didn't link the detailed reports from victims last night.

I'd rather not quote directly, because these are accounts of unambiguous sexual coercion and rape, and titling it all with "trigger warning" at the top isn't enough. But you do need to click through if you can.

These are accounts of a slick, practised predator at work.

The Guardian probably thinks a safeguarding policy is anything that identifies as a safeguarding policy.

These feels sadly on point as a description of what's happening.

Never been a complaint or complaints never been recorded which are two completely different things because there's been rumours about TW and particularly very young black women for years.

Is this just another BBC cover up?

Yeah, pay off complainants with tighter NDAs next time.

Honestly every time people say lessons will be learned I hear, "how do we get away with it better next time"

FOR FUCKS SAKE.

I think so. Westwood's career is older than I am and we're supposed to believe that in all that time, no rumour of his exploitation of young women has ever reached the ears of BBC management?

Aye, right!

If I'm getting the timeline right, Westwood left the BBC not that long after the Savile news broke. Is this because they were trying to stave off any allegations about Westwood?

Westwood's career is older than I am and we're supposed to believe that in all that time, no rumour of his exploitation of young women has ever reached the ears of BBC management?

This has the same flavour of Mark Lawson writing about Savile.

www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/apr/01/the-day-i-thwarted-jimmy-savile-mark-lawson-on-trying-to-stop-britains-worst-sex-offender

My goodness. Thank you for linking that. Very, very relevant

extract

A London West End restaurant, late 1990s

As a BBC presenter, I am intermittently invited to so-called “talent lunches” with one senior manager or another. At one such meal, I question why Jim’ll Fix It ended, in July 1994, after 19 years and two months, rather than let Savile depart after two full decades, a neater break point. “Yes, well,” says the BBC manager, “child protection laws are stricter now than they used to be.”

A cafe near BBC Broadcasting House, London, early 2006

A meeting of production staff to discuss possible future guests for Mark Lawson Talks To … on BBC Four. Flicking through birthdays, someone notices that Savile will be 80 in October. After swapping rumours about whether he only molests young women or dead bodies as well, we rule him out.

None of those present reach higher management positions at the BBC, so this conversation does not contradict a position the BBC will take in future years: that no one at the top at any point had ever even heard rumours about Savile. Yet, if in my experience of more than 20 years, so many junior BBC staff knew the stories, it must mean that only those who didn’t were ever promoted to senior roles. What are the odds?

You only need to hear the sort of sexist abuse that Westwood hurls at his audience to know that something is very wrong, especially as he is doing student gigs and old enough to be their granddad.

Did it ever occur to anyone at the BBC or Capital that the bloke who likes to shout at teenage girls about how tight their pussies are might be a wrong'un?

Seriously? Did he and Savile swap tips on how to get away with abuse by being ostentatious about it?

Quote

#SurvivingTimWestwood trended two years ago when many brave women came forward to share their experience but alas, nothing happened other than women being blocked.

Twitter

If you check the hashtag and arrange results chronologically, you can scroll back to screenshots taken in 2020, of CapitalXtra's twitter blocking women who'd posted their experiences of Tim Westwood

The BBC seems to be visibly trying to minimise this today.

Headline from this afternoon: DJ Tim Westwood accused of sex with a 14-year-old
BBC report

He is accused of sexually abusing a 14 year old girl!

The language is so dismissive.

Yes that headline isn't right, is it?. "Sex with a 14-year old". They do helpfully mention that sex with 14 year olds is "illegal in the UK".
The full report is grim. Those poor girls / young women.

The Guardian probably thinks a safeguarding policy is anything that identifies as a safeguarding policy

Good one. 😆

7 women report:

1 This guy is sexually abusive
2 This guy is sexually abusive
3 This guy is sexually abusive
4 This guy is sexually abusive
5 This guy is sexually abusive
6 This guy is sexually abusive
7 This guy is sexually abusive

Reaction, is he making us money? OK, it is only women reporting. Shove it under the carpet.

Both Westwood and Savile were employed by the BBC. The BBC is making a drama series about Savile and has made a documentary on Westwood, essentially they're profiting off of the abuse by making shows about how awful their stars were.

I can’t believe they didn’t hear rumours or even have absolute complaints raised.

saville was an open secret. Even as a child I knew he was a creepy man (the type my mum would want me against) that would touch children. That’s why I didn’t write into Jim’ll Fix It (too scared incase I had to meet him).

I saw the headline of the BBC and stopped there. An adult doesn't "have sex with a 14 year old" that is rape and exploitation. If the BBC can't be honest and open in the headline, the rest of it is not worth reading.

All they learned from Saville was how to cover up the abuse and how to profit from it.