BBC Breakfast star Naga Munchetty has been holding discussions with Sky News and radio station LBC in an apparent bid to leave the corporation, industry sources have revealed.
In a surprise move, the presenter held talks with both broadcasters in what appears to be an attempt to escape the toxic atmosphere on the programme she co-hosts three days a week with Charlie Stayt.
However, sources say the talks broke down recently, with some bosses at the networks unsure about 50-year-old Ms Munchetty’s ‘tough ways’ and deciding against continuing negotiations.
One said: ‘There were quite a few discussions with both Sky and LBC but then it was decided by both that they wouldn’t go any further.
‘She is quite sharp and it is perhaps not what they were looking for, so it all kind of fell apart.
‘Rightly or wrongly, Naga has a reputation for being quite tough and difficult at times – they didn’t like that.’
When asked yesterday if she wished to comment on moves to leave the BBC, Ms Munchetty’s agent didn’t respond.
It may very well have come as quite a blow for the star after it was reported last week that she had been reprimanded by corporation bosses over two incidents in three years, including allegations she bullied a junior staff member.
Naga Munchetty leaving the BBC studios in Salford in sunglasses and a pair of denim mini-shorts, wheeling a suitcase as she walked towards her chauffeur-driven car on Sunday
Ms Munchetty’s relationship with Charlie Stayt has been subject to debate as some claim they despise each other, while others say they are simply nonplussed, writes Katie Hind
Ms Munchetty was also hauled in over a ‘sex jibe’ made at Radio 5 Live. I’ve learned what that ‘jibe’ was and – while it is perhaps not wholly appropriate for today’s workplace – it couldn’t be described as bullying. There is also no current investigation into her conduct by the BBC.
Another reason why Ms Munchetty may have been keen to exit the BBC – 11 years after she joined Breakfast – is her alleged fallout with the programme’s editor, Richard Frediani.
It is claimed she has not liked him since he arrived in 2019, having defected from ITV. His appointment led to a silent mutiny among staff – some more high profile than others – who were, it is said, dreading his arrival.
Insiders tell me that, from day one, they were expecting fireworks between the stern newsreader, who had been on the Breakfast sofa for five years by then, and Mr Frediani.
And how right they were.
I revealed two months ago that Ms Munchetty had gone to war with him over his bullying ways. But despite the behind-the-scenes drama, she proved it was business as usual yesterday. She left the BBC studios in Salford in sunglasses and a pair of denim mini-shorts, wheeling a suitcase as she walked towards her chauffeur-driven car. She didn’t crack a smile and sources put that down to the fact she saw paparazzi waiting.
But it must surely be a trying time for the BBC host. She is next on air with Mr Stayt on Thursday and she must be hoping for some much-needed downtime at her home 200 miles away in Dulwich, south-east London.
The pair’s off-screen relationship is another one that has been subject to debate. Some claim they despise each other, while others say they are simply nonplussed. Ms Munchetty, for her part, has recently insisted they are friends.
Bosses at Sky were said to be put off hiring Ms Munchetty over her alleged ‘tough ways’
Mr Stayt pictured leaving the BBC Breakfast studio in Salford
Ms Munchetty is also alleged to have fallen out with the programme’s editor, Richard Frediani, who is on an extended leave from BBC Breakfast over claims of bullying
Whatever the case, the real battle is firmly between her and Mr Frediani. And last week she appeared to claim a victory when Mr Frediani went on extended leave from the show.
One source tells me that it had been ‘a long time coming’. Indeed, the MoS revealed in April 2020, just months after he had begun his new job, that a series of complaints had already been made to the BBC’s management and HR department about an ‘intimidating and bullying’ culture on Breakfast.
One employee, who wished to remain anonymous, told me that ‘the whole atmosphere had become poisonous’ and like a ‘boys’ club’. They added: ‘There is a normalisation of people crying at work and on their journeys home. From where I see it, there are favourites – and it is made explicitly clear to everyone in the newsroom who they are.’
Right up until recently, staff would be ignored by Mr Frediani and people’s names would be humiliatingly ‘forgotten’. A small, select ‘banter’ circle of white, straight men – some of them middle-aged – meant there was a culture of ‘boys’ club favouritism’.
Mr Frediani was also the subject of at least two misconduct complaints, including one from a woman who had her grievance upheld after claiming that he shook her during a heated newsroom exchange last year.
One source said: ‘It’s the women who got it worse from Frediani and his clan. It’s more often than not the women who get humiliated and shouted at, apart from [presenter] Nina Warhurst – Fredi likes her. It’s all so blatant.’
So blatant, it seems, that sources say it prompted Ms Munchetty to complain about Mr Frediani’s behaviour to those higher up. One said: ‘Naga is seen as the bad person here but she is the one who stuck up for many of the behind-the-scenes staff who simply don’t have a voice.
‘She saw it as her duty to try to stop the horrible, toxic atmosphere. Maybe there was an element of wanting to do Frediani over. BBC Breakfast is in parts a sexist place and she wanted to put a stop to that.’
Of course, Ms Munchetty has her critics. She is said to be ‘sharp’ and ‘keen to get the job done’.
Sources say she also irritates her colleagues with her liberal use of taxis and expensive hotels while she is in Manchester hosting the show. But others point out that it is all ‘rather unfair’ to bring her into ‘this mess’.
Quite where this now leaves the show’s future is anyone’s guess, particularly after Mr Frediani’s temporary departure.
All eyes are now on Deborah Turness, head of BBC News and Current Affairs, who has been his boss since she arrived from ITN in September 2022. Last year, she was responsible for expanding his role to include the News at One show when it moved to Salford, leaving staff furious that he appeared to be being rewarded for his behaviour – although they weren’t altogether surprised.
Ms Turness and Mr Frediani are old chums who began working together almost two decades ago at ITV News when she was the editor and he was news editor. He was also a tyrant there, according to the messages from junior staff who worked with him back then which have filled my mailbag.
The question now on everyone’s lips is whether Ms Turness will let him go. ‘It’s undeniable that Deborah knows what Frediani is like,’ said a Breakfast insider.
‘She has known him for years – he is one of those who is good at managing upwards. But still, she’s a smart woman and she must have been able to see this.
‘Quite why she gave him that job is a total mystery – it tells you just what a terrible state the BBC is in.
‘And now she might have to make one of the hardest decisions of her career and cut him loose at the end of his extended leave because this behaviour has been going on for far too long.’
And if anything is going to make Ms Munchetty stay at the Beeb, it will be that.
