♪ ♪ narrator: fuing for this presentation of this program is provided by... narrator: pediatric surgeon. volunteer. topiary artist. a raymond james financial advisor tailors advice to help you live your life. life well planned. narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. announcer: and now, "bbc news".

>> hello. i am christian fraser. this is "the context." >> a statement from "the sun" newspaper. they said, we spoke to parents who spoke about complaints that were not acted upon by the bbc. they see evidence, they say, that support their concerns, and it is up to the bbc to investigate. >> one thing we can take away from the events of today is the police will make further inquiries as to whether a criminal offense occurred. notice they did not use the word "investigation," which is a higher level. >> we don't know what "the sun" has got. we don't know what the relationship is between this

person and the other person who spoke to "the sun," because clearly this other person is pushing back and saying this is rubbish. ♪ >> welcome to the program. lots to get into this evening, including new information that emerged concerning the allegations that a bbc presenter paid a teenager tens of thousands of pounds for sexually explicit images. a statement for a lawyer representing the young person said nothing inappropriate has taken place, that the allegations are rubbish. joe biden in the u.k. en route to a nato summit. the president said relations with the u.k. are rock solid, but there are disagreements over ukraine. floods in north america, and

they are running out of water in europe. the u.n. says it is extremely worried about the record high temperatures. we start with those allegations made on friday evening that a bbc presenter paid a teenager tens of thousands of pounds for sexually explicit images. young person, now aged 20, is represented by a lawyer who issued a statement in the last few hours. "for the avoidance of doubt, nothing inappropriate or unlawful has taken place between our client and the bbc personality, and the allegations reported in the -- in 'the sun' are rubissh." "the sun" said, a complaint was

not acted upon by the bbc. we've seen evidence that supports their concerns. it is for the bbc to properly investigate. currently, bbc news does not know the identity of this young person, nor has it seen the evidence, but bbc managers have spoken to the metropolitan police who say they are assessing information and taking a view whether to open an investigation. we will speak to our media commentator who was with me. david, what we seem to have is one person's word against another, claim and counterclaim. where does it leave the story? >> twists and turns is the way to describe it. "the sun" story, which has been at the top of the headlines everywhere u.k. the last three days, and it was based on a sworn affidavit from the mother of this young person.

we've heard nothing from this young person. this letter from lawyers who say they represent this young person was something of a bombshell. they say, not only is the story and the allegation that a well-known bbc presenter paid 35,000 pounds for sexually explicit pictures is not only untrue, but nothing unlawful happened, but they also say they told "the sun" this on friday evening, and nothing happened. everything now falls on "the sun," doesn't it? they say they have evidence. the question is, what is that evidence? >> either payments have been made to this person or there haven't.

there arguably is evidence to back up what "the sun" is saying, which would be in the bank statements. the onus is on them to present those, right? >> if you read what they reported, they are reporting that the mother saw evidence of statements. whether or not statements are in their possession is unclear at the moment, so there are questions about what that evidence is, and what this story is. it has had a huge impact, and it has haan impact on a number of other bbc presenters who have found themselves accused of social media. there is another investigation by metropolitan police looking at the idea of malicious communication going out.\ two presenters, mickey campbell and jeremy vine, both of their today addressing the fact that they had been identified by

people entirely incorrectly, wrongly, but their reputation was torn through the mud. this is enveloping people at the moment. this asks many questions of the original story, and tomorrow, the bbc has its annual report, which is always a chance for the media to quiz the bbc. the government said today, the justice secretary said, i the fullness of time, there may need to be an audit about who knew what and when at the bbc. some people will also plead to the fact thathiouer has expensive lawyers, they are a well-known legal company, so the bbc has to be carel. there is potentially a safeguarding issue at stake.

>> it is an extraordinarily complicated difficult situation because they have a duty of care to the young person, but they also have a duty of care to the presenter and presenters who have found themselves being accused. if it is a false accusation, there are people out there spreading names around, and there is an impact to being felt people -- they are being falsely accused of things at the moment. it is a very difficult thing to follow a process, especially when the bbc says it received a complaint in may, and it ceived further information thursday of last week. does it still have the full dossier ofvidence that the -- "the sun" possesses?

>> thank you very much for that. let's speak to our media law expert. where do you think this leaves the story legally speaking tonight? >> i think certain things will carry on. i think the metropolitan lease examination -- police examination of the matter continues on. i don't think the matter can be dropped on the basis of one statement by the young person, although it does cast a different light on the entire situation. but i think the privacy of the presenter remains in place, so they are still not being identified. i think it does show, and i've

been doing interviews all day for various outlets, an awful lot of bbc outlets examining this issue themselves, and one thing i've been saying is when these situations arise, there are two sides of the story, and with this, there are multiple sides. we have not heard from the center -- presenter, but now we have this statement from this young person. people who were quick to judge other weekend now ought to have been given some pause for thought. >> you are right in pointing out we have a statement for the young person, but the difficulty for reporters is not of the principal characters in the story have spoken publicly about what they know. until we have that, the bbc are

in a difficult position. they are under pressure to get to the bottom of this, but it is immensely complicated. >> it is. one of the early statements bbc issued about this alluded to the difficulties they were having in the investigation. it is often difficult when people are not cooperating, or worse. i think this statement explains that. "the sun" gave a version of events from the concerned parents, but it may well be that the bbc in investigating that was running up against a young person who was not sharing that concerns or did not regard this as something that warranted

investigation and might not have been cooperative or refused to contribute to the narrative. that does explain why the bbc was having difficulty in progressing and investigation or reaching some sort of outcome. this is what happens when we start getting piecemeal statements like this. as a journalist, you want to speak to every person involved, the parents, the presenter, in order to try to get somewhere >> seeing a copy of the story from "the sun," the parents of the youngster say they are standing by their allegations. will there be questions for

them? one thing somebody asked me was, why would you take a serious allegation like this first of all to the bbc -- it is difficult finding the right department in the bbc, and having not gotten the right answers, taking it to "the sun" -- why wouldn't you take it to the police? >> people make decisions for all sorts of reasons. i wouldn't read too much into people not going to the police. very often people go to newspapers. for many reasons, they might think they will get more immediate results in the bbc will take it more seriously if they have a campaign need, hard-hitting, tough newspaper like "the sun."

that might have pushed the bbc more than the police. they might not want the police involved given that their child is involved and they don't want to get their child involved in a police investigation. there might be many reasons why parents would not go to police, but they want to prompt action, so they go to newspapers. it obviously should have gone to the bbc in the first instance, but the bbc is a massive organization, and this might be something for the bbc to address in the aftermath. was it easy enough for somebody in this position to make a complaint and for that complaint to get to the right people quickly so they uld investigate?

what of the reasons the family cited for going to "the sun" was what they perceived as a lack of action by the bbc. >> which is part of the inquiry. while i'm talking to you, i've seen it just now, but i should read to you the quote. she said, it's sad, but we stand by our account and hope they get the help they need. we did this to help. the presenter has got into their head. how do they afford a lawyer? we are so sad. the stepfather said, we are disappointed they made a statement. it is untrue. it comes back to that statement. it is very much claim and counterclaim. i suspect now it will fall on the police to decide whether there is more to it. >> that is very true.

i think those quotes from the family show the split that you have. we should remember the person they refer to is 20 years old. they are making reference to events that happened when they were a teenager, but the 20-year-old has their own agency. this is why you need to hear from the people involved. you need to hear what they are saying in order to make that assessment, but clearly the parents are concerned, and that is their view. their child clearly has a different view, as expressed by their statement, but you would like to hear more. >> we will talk to you later in the program, but at the moment, thank you very much. this is bbc news. let's take a look at some other stories making headlines.

a second eight-year-old whirl has died from her injuries after a car crashed into a squirrel in london. the incident happened on thursday. metropolitan police and the family described her as "the length of her life's." a review into failings in returning care -- maternity care in nottingham is set to become the largest in the u.k. 1700 families will have their cases examined. dozens of babies are new to have suffered lifelong injuries as a result of poor maternity care in the city dating back more than a decade. easyjet blamed constraint airspace over europe and ongoing air traffic control difficulty forroblems.

you are live with bbc. nato leaders are gathering in lithuania ahead of a two day summit that begins tomorrow. the meeting will tackle a wide range of topics, but it is the discussion over ukraine's future membership in nato being dominated. it is agreed that berlin and washinon have agreed on a statement, but has not endorsed a full pathway for ukraine's ascension tomato. president biden arrived how much of a problem do you think the german and american view on ukraine joining nato is going to be at the summit? willet overhang all discussions?

>> [no audio] stressing the importance of a commitment and focus to ukraine joining nato. there is an acceptance on all sides that there is a war going on, but directly at the end of it, zelenskyy has been clear that is the commitment he is looking for. anything less than that certainly will not be well receivedn kyiv. there is the issue of membership. it is not just ukraine, which is the single most important, but also sweden. today, turkiye president again - - erdogan raised the stakes,

throwing ian extra demand. nato works in a way where anyone who is in the club can effectively block any members from joining, and that is what is potentially happening with turkey and sweden. erdogan sad, if you open turkiye to joining the eu, we can open the door to sweden joining nato. that has been dismissed by some, saying it is a separate organization, but there is a sense of frustration. i spoke to u.s. senators here, and they both used the word disappointing to describe this development. let's listen. >> it is disappointing to hear president erdogan putting

something else on his list. turkey is an important part of nato. i am hoping he will rethink his request and be able to negotiate with other leaders. sweden brings important capacity, particularly in the maritime arena and in the arctic region, that we really need. >> your reaction? >> disappointed, not surprised. we have to look at things that are relevant to sweden's ascension into nato. they have nato capabilities. they are helpful in the arctic and baltics. there are so many reasons to vote for it. i don't see how things not related to their application tomato being mixed in. pooley, it will work itself out. -- hopefully, it wl work

itself out. turkey is a member of the nato family. >> confirmation in the last few moments that joe biden will meet with president erdogan to talk about sweden. there's been a lot of discussi about the gulf between commitments made about weapons and what is being delivered. joe biden seemed to intimate that there are shortages in the american arsenal. >> you are right. to add an extra level of confusion, we are talking about different supply mechanisms. you have individual countries giving various bits of equipment, which inevitably will

lead to potential areas in their own supply, and there are gifts by nato, trying to come up with a more strategic approach and what it supplies to ukraine. it is trying to bring these supply chains together and as part of the negotiations here. madrid outlined a broad strategic goal and plan, and part of the discussions will be seeing exactly how progress is being made and how things are progressing on that front. we mentioned the controversial issue of cluster bombs. i just want to flag that these screens behind me, you cn stoltenberg giving a press conference.

>> president biden spent most of the day, u.k. where he met the king for the first time since his coronation. the environment is not one of rishi sunak's five priorities. the discussi concentrated largely on ukraine and china. there've been one or two disagreementof late, which we will discuss with the former campaign director for hillary clinton. thank you for being with us. before he landed, cnn ran an article that said, after brexit, the u.k. became just so needy, there was not time to deal with the uk's issues. do you sense that there is a better relationship developing?

>> abided, when he shows up, this is his gift. you've seen him overtime, one after the other, when the relationship forms, he comes back and works through it. this has been quite the moment for abided. also, the delegation coming from the united states. ere is the sense of coordination and planning we have not seen a long time in the states, but speaks well to what biden does best. that is true this morning, as well. >> we know the u.k. was not in favor of sending cluster bombs. there are deep splits over this within nato, but europeans in particular cannot be too critical of the united states

because there are such problems in the supply of arms to the front line at the moment. >> you are exactly right. what adds complexity to this quandary is that it is a ukrainian request to use these weapons. you will have the unintended consequences of ukrainian casualties. that is the bad part about these balm -- bombs. this is a tough one. i think all the countries respect thu.s. opinion. they are going to criticize it, but it is not going to change. >> obviously, it is a two day eting in lithuania. 31

narrator: funding for this presentation of this program is provided by... narrator: financial services firm, raymond james. narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ narrator: funding for this presentation of this program is provided by... narrator: pediatric surgeon. volunteer. topiary artist. a raymond james financial advisor tailors advice to help you live your life. life well planned. narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; rsuing solutions for america's neglected needs. announcer: and now, "bbc news".