Wife of Huw Edwards should be praised for naming him – media expert

A public relations and crisis consultant has said the wife of Huw Edwards should be “praised” following her naming the BBC presenter as the figure embroiled in an explicit photos scandal.

Vicky Flind spoke out saying Edwards was the BBC presenter on Wednesday following him facing allegations over payments for sexually explicit images.

She said he is “suffering from serious mental health issues” and is receiving “in-patient hospital care” in a statement.

Mark Borkowski told the PA news agency of the need for a “true appraisal of the facts”.

He said: “It’s interesting that his wife took control of this, and actually she should be praised for dealing with the fact that there’s a huge amount in our society that we still are affected by shame – and shame (plays) a huge part in the British human condition.”

He added that people in the public eye “face the same pressures” and it is “really tough at the top”.

Mr Borkowski said: “It’s a very cold and lonely place and people just see the bright side of fame. We don’t talk enough about the prefabricated hell that people live in when they’re famous.”

He also said that “families” who are not the celebrity do not get “considered” and have to deal with the fallout of a controversy like this.

Speaking about how the BBC is feeling at this time, he said the organisation is “suffering from PTSD” after a series of crises.

He said: “We’re going into a completely different rules of celebrity, different rules run by a social media crowd, who are not empathetic, and are just craving the story.

“The BBC is regulated by Ofcom, by government, by a long winded process and their competition isn’t governed by (those) same rules.”

Mr Borkowski said he has “empathy” for the BBC as it is a “lumbering beast” who has to work with due process.

He said: “It’s a huge organisation that everybody has an opinion on, they’re damned if they do, they’re damned if they don’t.

“There needs to be a root and branch sort of study from a person outside the bubble, to take a look at all these integrated procedures like human resources, artists, relations (and) production (departments).”

Mr Borkowski called on the BBC to be more “aggressive” in the way that the broadcaster “shouts” about its “values”.

However, he questioned why no-one at the corporation saw that Edwards was struggling.

Mr Borkowski said BBC director-general Tim Davie could not meet with the “most public facing figure of the nightly news” because of “due process”.

He said the BBC is “clearly struggling to compete with a fast moving media”.