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  1. Diary
21 August 2024

How we broke the Huw Edwards story

Also this week: front-page thugs and swinging elections.

By Victoria Newton

It’s a Monday morning and my news editor rushes in: “We think Huw Edwards has been charged.” It has been a year since the Sun ran a front-page story saying a BBC presenter had paid thousands of pounds to a 17-year-old with a drug dependency in exchange for explicit pictures. The piece led to a huge media storm. Suspended by the BBC and later named as the subject of our story by his wife, Edwards sought medical treatment for mental health issues.

At the time the Sun faced a backlash from his friends and other commentators after the teenager issued a statement saying our story was “rubbish”. TV crews were outside the building and there were calls for my head amid ridiculous claims that we had “terrorised” Edwards – we hadn’t even named him.

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