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Article information
- Author, Katie Razzall
- Role, BBC Culture and Media Editor
-
7 hours ago
When I started working at BBC News three years ago, a colleague gave me some advice about working with my new colleague Huw Edwards:
“You can be humorous, but don’t be funnier than Hugh.”
“You can be smart, but don’t be too smart.”
It was a lighthearted reminder that, as a host who was highly regarded by many in the newsroom at the time, Edwards was known for his exceptional talent, wit, and diligent professionalism.
But in the past year, Edwards has gone from being the king of the BBC newsroom – earning almost as much as the director-general – to being a convicted sex offender, who will be sentenced on Monday for making and possessing indecent images of children.
He admitted possessing 41 obscene images of children. The images were sent to him by another man via the messaging app WhatsApp. They included seven Category A images – the most serious classification for such crimes, two of which involved a child aged approximately 7 to 9 years old. All the abused children in these images were unfortunately exposed to the darkest side of human nature and were victims of the suspect’s moral depravity.
image captionColleagues respect him for his long history in journalism and his position at the BBC As a news editor, he was often able to act according to his own wishes
Before we learned of his crimes, some colleagues still had a shred of sympathy for Edwards.
However, people in the newsroom were shocked to discover that the host had committed such a horrific crime.
One BBC colleague said he was “disgusted” by the news, while another described it as a “bomb”.
“We watched him walk into the courtroom wearing sunglasses, and we were paralyzed. Was he being defiant? Was he ashamed? No one knew.”
“There is a sense of grief and anger at what he has done, the extent of his fall, the impact on the rest of us and the impact on the BBC.”
For staff, especially those who have worked with him, the past year has been very difficult. “There have been so many twists and turns, and every time another terrible truth is revealed, it feels like there is no end.”
Let’s start from the beginning
When The Sun broke the revelation in July 2023 that an unnamed BBC presenter had paid “young men” for sexually suggestive images, everyone was shocked.
In fact, many of our colleagues knew from the beginning that the host being implicated was Edwards because he had disappeared from the program list. This was a difficult news report for me and my colleagues because every word we said and every article we wrote was scrutinized, but our understanding of the facts was very limited. I reported the story based on my understanding with the support of excellent producers and editors.
But many inside and outside the BBC felt that Edwards’ privacy had been violated. And the colleague in question was not just any colleague, but the presenter of News at Ten, the BBC’s flagship news show – which was very stressful.
When Edwards’ name was revealed and we began to learn about his mental health issues, and when police later said he had done nothing wrong in the case, some people expressed sympathy and concern for him.
We then heard nothing official for the next nine months, until a brief statement in April this year said he had resigned from the BBC. In that statement, the corporation had no warm words for Edwards, and it was clear that the relationship had completely broken down.
‘Shocked and disgusted’
But even so, no one was prepared for what happened next. BBC chairman Samir Shah told the House of Lords communications and digital committee last week that he and other colleagues at the corporation “felt angry and betrayed”.
Shah emailed employees after Edwards had been charged and pleaded guilty, calling the former host a “villain.” A senior company insider told me, “No one wants to be in a situation where your most iconic host, a household face, a trusted voice in every home, commits a crime like this.”
“It’s totally beyond what you might need to deal with.”
I also understand that senior BBC executives are extremely angry that Edwards denied any wrongdoing despite knowing that he had serious child sexual abuse images on his phone.
Employees and management alike feel hurt.
Edwards was involved in serious crimes against children. We must never forget the victims of these crimes.
Edwards is a criminal, not the BBC, although some suspect he is beginning to be used as a tool by those with ulterior motives to attack the company’s ideology.
As one senior insider told me, with a hint of bitter irony: “Ultimately, this is all going to be the BBC’s fault.”
But the BBC, which has faced some major issues in a difficult year, is now asking Edwards to return about 200,000 pounds ($264,000) in salary he received in the five months between his arrest and his resignation.
But why did the company’s top management continue to pay his salary after they knew he had been arrested?
Some human resources and legal experts told me that the BBC’s approach was appropriate because it balanced its duty to look after its employees with considerations of its overall reputation.
However, BBC News director Tim Davies was questioned at a House of Lords committee whether the BBC could have been “more decisive” in paying Edwards’ salary, and only a small number of senior executives at the corporation knew of Edwards’ arrest in November (the police reportedly asked the BBC to keep it secret).
Senior officials knew at the time that some of the images in Edwards’ possession were Category A, but they did not suspect they involved children so young. The context of the youngsters first mentioned in the Sun report last year as being 17 years old led to believe the images involved older teenagers.
Even so, they knew at the end of the day that the photos included Category A photos. No BBC colleague I spoke to, including some senior people, believed that relying solely on civil law to enforce employment contracts would allow Edwards to keep his job given the seriousness of the allegations.
Therefore, with the benefit of hindsight, a “more decisive” approach would undoubtedly have helped to protect the BBC’s reputation.
The disciplinary process the BBC launched against Edwards following the Sun report – including details of the allegations against him – has never been made public. I’m told this is standard practice in organisations, but it has led to accusations of a lack of transparency.
The BBC has launched an independent review to strengthen its workplace culture, with the chairman telling staff he was “particularly concerned about how ongoing issues around inappropriate behaviour in positions of power are being addressed”.
When I spoke to some of the people I interviewed, they were not reassured by this.
“Because the review of his complaint was suppressed, no one had confidence in him,” one colleague told me. “It was easy for the BBC to just stop working there, so they just let it go.”
One senior figure rejected suggestions from colleagues that there would be “a huge backlash to this”.
Another insider told me that the power structure in media organizations is “complex,” with senior executives holding power, but also the “talent” in the organization holding a lot of power because of their social influence and status: “Companies that employ them need to be more vigilant and deal with these power dynamics.”
When Edwards boarded a train to London after presenting the News at Ten in Edinburgh on July 5, 2023, his career and his place in British television history were assured. He had just negotiated a £40,000 pay rise, bringing his annual salary at the BBC to more than £475,000 (about $620,000).
Because of the BBC’s trust in him, he was chosen to announce the Queen’s death. In addition, as a talented pianist, he was announced as the new face of the BBC Proms and was scheduled to appear on The One Show that week to talk about it. After that, his appearance was shelved. He would not host his first concert, Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, and his news presenting work was over.
Edwards was told of the Sun’s allegations in a face-to-face BBC meeting the day after he finished presenting the show in Edinburgh. He was suspended days later.
Just last week, he apparently updated his LinkedIn profile to say he provides “free services to charities and non-profit organizations” (the profile appears to have been taken down).
This sparked the curiosity of some colleagues – perhaps revealing the inner world of a man they once thought they knew.
image copyrightPA Media
image captionThe BBC has launched an independent review to strengthen its workplace culture. The chairman told staff he was particularly concerned about how it dealt with ongoing issues around inappropriate behaviour in positions of power
When Edwards anchored News at Ten, he would sit at a row of desks in the middle of the newsroom, facing the editors responsible for News at Six and Ten. With his long journalism background and stature at the BBC, colleagues respected him. As for news editing, he was often able to act according to his own wishes. In fact, this is quite common among heavyweights in the press, and Edwards is undoubtedly the one with the most power.
My friend warned me to maintain a good relationship with him when I started my new job, which reminded me of Henry VIII in Hilary Mantel’s novel Wolf Hall.
For Edwards was the Tudor king of the British press: “You could have fun with the king, you could joke with him,” Mantel wrote in Bring Up the Bodies.
However, court insiders also compared Henry VIII to a tame lion: “You stroke its mane, pull its ears, but all the time in your mind you are thinking about – those claws, those claws, those claws !”
