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The BBC is unlikely to ever broadcast again footage of the disgraced journalist Huw Edwards announcing the death of the Queen after the renowned newsreader pleaded guilty to making indecent images of children, Byline Times can reveal.
Edwards, who was one of the Corporation’s highest-profile and highest-paid presenters, famously broke the news of Her Majesty’s death on 8 September 2022.
In a statement, a BBC spokesperson told this newspaper: “As you would expect, we are actively considering the availability of our archive. While we don’t routinely delete content from the BBC archive as it is a matter of historical record, we do consider the continued use and re-use of material on a case-by-case basis.”
A BBC source said: “There is no way this clip can, or will, ever be shown again. There would be public outrage if this clip was ever shown on the BBC again. And, as they control the rights to its usage, there is no way they will allow it to be sold to third-parties either.”
While the source said that financial considerations were “the least of the BBC’s worries” over this matter, they said the decision not to syndicate the most famous moments of news broadcasting in recent years would likely cost it millions of pounds in royalties.
Edwards pleaded guilty on 31 July to three counts of making indecent images of children. He admitted that he had 41 indecent images of children, which had been sent to him by another man on WhatsApp, Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard. These included seven category A images, the most serious classification – two of which showed a child aged between about seven and nine.
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Police later revealed that the man who sent the images to Edwards was a convicted paedophile.
Edwards is due to be sentenced on 16 September.
As the BBC’s pre-eminent news anchor, he often fronted coverage of major national events.
Edwards had not been on air since last July, following high-profile reports in The Sun newspaper claiming that he had paid a young person for sexually explicit images. This matter does not relate to the charges he pleaded guilty to this week.