The strange case of the Not Very Famous TV star — and the ‘sex scandals’ that are miring the media

What the Dan Wootton ‘virtual encounters’ story tells us about a sinister new force in British media, writes Alan Rusbridger

Wootton has been accused of using fake online identities to trick men into sending him sexually explicit images (GB News)

Hot on the heels of an alleged sex scandal involving a Very Famous news presenter comes… an alleged sex scandal involving a Not Very Famous news presenter. You may have experienced the same problem with buses.

If you haven’t been paying attention, GB News presenter Dan Wootton has come under fire this week for allegedly using fake online identities to trick men into sending him sexually explicit images in exchange for tens of thousands of pounds. Wootton has rejected the allegations as “simply untrue”, and has said that he is the victim of a “witch hunt”.

Let’s leave the alleged sex to one side. Both cases involve contested claims of digital, or virtual, encounters. The police say there was no criminality involved with the Very Famous presenter – the BBC’s Huw Edwards – and it’s early doors with Wootton. Each case teeters on the uncertain boundary line between what well-padded reputation management lawyers would argue was private. Or public, depending on who’s paying them.