diff --git a/src/calibre/web/feeds/news.py b/src/calibre/web/feeds/news.py
index 93d5541c01..ed90e1498b 100644
--- a/src/calibre/web/feeds/news.py
+++ b/src/calibre/web/feeds/news.py
@@ -491,7 +491,8 @@ class BasicNewsRecipe(Recipe):
     def image_url_processor(cls, baseurl, url):
         '''
         Perform some processing on image urls (perhaps removing size restrictions for
-        dynamically generated images, etc.) and return the precessed URL.
+        dynamically generated images, etc.) and return the precessed URL. Return None
+        or an empty string to skip fetching the image.
         '''
         return url
 
diff --git a/src/calibre/web/fetch/simple.py b/src/calibre/web/fetch/simple.py
index b629fa9fd5..fd4a01bed9 100644
--- a/src/calibre/web/fetch/simple.py
+++ b/src/calibre/web/fetch/simple.py
@@ -407,6 +407,8 @@ class RecursiveFetcher:
             else:
                 if callable(self.image_url_processor):
                     iurl = self.image_url_processor(baseurl, iurl)
+                    if not iurl:
+                        continue
                 if not urlsplit(iurl).scheme:
                     iurl = urljoin(baseurl, iurl, False)
                 found_in_cache = False