The BBC, the U.K. public broadcaster, has been hurt by the Huw Edwards affair director-general Tim Davie said at a big industry conference in London on Tuesday. “An affair like this impacts our reputation,” he said while emphasizing that the full fallout on the TV giant isn’t clear yet. But he also argued: “You can maintain trust by doing the right thing.”
Speaking during a keynote address at the Royal Television Society’s (RTS) London Convention 2024, he also addressed the six-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, handed to former BBC News presenter Huw Edwards on Monday after he pleaded guilty to making indecent images of children. The 63-year-old said he was “profoundly sorry” for the “repugnant” images before he was sentenced. “I can’t see that happen,” he said when asked if Edwards would return to the BBC. “This man has just been convicted of appalling crimes.”
How about the impact of the archive? “I would never say never,” Davie said, signaling a case-by-case approach rather than a blanket ban on use of archival footage with Edwards.
“We wrestled with it” when he and others decided to continue paying the former host, Davie said, calling it “a very difficult call.” But the call was to keep paying until he was charged, which the BBC boss argued was the correct way to proceed, and everyone acted “in good faith.” But the BBC will review what it could have done differently, such as maybe putting his pay into a separate pot and keep it there until a legal decision is made.
Davie said the BBC has asked for 200,000 pounds ($265,000) in Edwards pay be returned. “We are just shocked,” he shocked, and people at the BBC feel “deeply let down.” He concluded that the media industry is still a place where people are creatively brilliant but their behavior is inappropriate. A board review of the work culture at the BBC must still be signed off.
In late March, in outlining his priorities, Davie said that the BBC needs more partnerships with media, entertainment and technology giants, such as one with the Walt Disney Co. for sci-fi hit show Doctor Who, and change how it does business further in a competitive and polarized world. He described the BBC’s three essential roles and goals as: “pursue truth with no agenda, back British storytelling, and bring people together.” The proactive, but considered, use of AI and “ethical algorithms” is also part of his plans for the broadcaster.
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