Huw Edwards: BBC boss Tim Davie denies ‘wholesale banning’ of newsreader footage after scandal
The 62-year-old pleaded guilty in July to three counts of making indecent images of children.
The BBC’s boss has said there has been “no wholesale banning” of footage from the corporation’s archive after the scandal surrounding former newsreader Huw Edwards.
Edwards was named among the BBC’s highest-paid stars in the year 2023-24, despite being off-air since July 2023.
The 62-year-old is due to be sentenced next week after pleading guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children at a court hearing earlier this year.
In August, the BBC asked him to hand back the part of his salary, thought to be about £200,000, earned in the five months after he was first arrested.
Director general Tim Davie and BBC chair Dr Samir Shah faced questions from the House of Lords’ Communications and Digital Committee on Tuesday.
“There’s no wholesale banning, we’re not sitting in the archive deleting files of individuals. Those remain in the archive, but I think it’s absolutely appropriate when someone’s been involved in case like this, which is active so we should be careful, that we make decisions based on that. The BBC stands for everything that isn’t censorship, so my instinct is where there’s editorial justification, even where that’s uncomfortable, some of this footage may emerge, but it’s got to be in the right situation.”
Mr Davie said that, contrary to some reports, there had been “no wholesale banning” of footage from the archive, such as Edwards announcing the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
His comments come after a Doctor Who episode featuring a cameo by Edwards was “temporarily removed from BBC iPlayer to be re-dubbed” last month.
“We’re not sitting in the archive deleting files of individuals,” he added.
“Those remain in the archive, but I think it’s absolutely appropriate when someone’s been involved in case like this, which is active so we should be careful, that we make decisions based on that.
“The BBC stands for everything that isn’t censorship, so my instinct is where there’s editorial justification, even where that’s uncomfortable, some of this footage may emerge, but it’s got to be in the right situation.”
A story first emerged in The Sun last year that a then unnamed BBC presenter had allegedly paid a young person for explicit photographs.
Days later, Edwards’ wife named him as the presenter at the centre of the allegations.
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Following a separate police investigation, Edwards was arrested and later charged with three counts of making indecent images of children.
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Dr Shah said Edwards had “damaged the reputation” of the BBC.
“I should say, it was a shock to discover, when it was announced, when he was charged, that he had led this double life,” he added.
Mr Davie told the committee he did not think it “appropriate” to make public the BBC’s investigation into the initial allegations.
“If in the process of any disciplinary investigation, we found anything of a very serious nature, or criminal, or anything of that type, we would of course refer it to the police and we’d be in a completely different situation,” he said.
“That is not what came through any of the work we did. We’ve clearly got things progressing outside the workplace, but we’re very clear with regard to where we are within the workplace.”
The director general said he would “welcome the idea” of looking again at the policy to pay employees during suspension.
