The Huw Edwards affair has been a catastrophe for the BBC. At its core are the victims of abuse – the unknown children who were involved in the images Edwards has admitted to viewing. And it is about Edwards himself – a formidable journalist brought down by human failing. But the consequences for the BBC as the national broadcaster will be serious and long-lasting.
It may seem that we have been here before. The multiple and more serious crimes of Jimmy Savile will never be erased from the BBC’s history, and the corporation is seldom far from a crisis. Martin Bashir and the interview with the Princess of Wales; Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand turning entertainment into excruciating intrusion; the false allegations against Alistair McAlpine – each time with a director-general and senior executive under siege and at risk of being toppled. But where the Edwards affair is so uniquely damaging is that it sits at the very heart of the BBC News operation. At a stroke, the archive of recent national events – from the wedding of Prince Harry to the Coronation, with the 2019 general election along the way – will forever be seen through the prism of the Edwards scandal.
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