BBC Asian Network's head of news has been charged over a live radio bulletin in which a reporter allegedly revealed the identity of a Rotherham sex abuse victim.
Arif Ansari is pleading not guilty to the charge relating to the radio broadcast on 6 February.
The BBC is supporting him and says the reporter 'genuinely believed the name he broadcast was a pseudonym.'
The charges were brought by the National Crime Agency investigating sexual abuse in Rotherham from 1997 to 2013.
The BBC said it was worried by the decision to charge an editor rather than the corporation as a whole.
A BBC spokesman said: 'We believe that on the facts of this case, it is the BBC itself that should answer in court for this mistake, rather than the individual editor, who if convicted will have a criminal record with all the consequences that flow from that.'
'This worrying decision only to prosecute the editor risks creating a climate of fear for editors endeavouring to report court proceeding in the public interest.'
Ansari is due in court on 11 October.
