BBC News leaders resign after criticism of the broadcaster’s editing of a Trump speech
BBC Director-General Tim Davie and BBC News Chief Executive Deborah Turness announced their resignations on Sunday.
The departures come after the British public broadcaster faced criticism for its editing of President Trump’s speech before the Capitol riot and insurrection on January 6, 2021.
The BBC’s investigative series “Panorama” featured an edited video of Trump’s speech in a broadcast a week before the US presidential election last year.
Critics said the way the speech was edited was misleading because it omitted the part where Trump said he expected his supporters to demonstrate peacefully.
In his speech, Trump said, “I know everyone here will soon peacefully and patriotically march to the Capitol to make your voices heard,” and called on his supporters to “fight like hell.”
In a statement, Turness acknowledged the controversy surrounding the “Panorama” broadcast, saying: “Leaders in public life need to be fully accountable and that is why I am resigning. While mistakes have been made, I want to make clear that recent allegations that BBC News is institutionally biased are completely false.”
In a separate news release, Davie said: “In these increasingly polarized times, the BBC is uniquely valuable and speaks to the best in us. It helps make the UK a special place that is incredibly kind, tolerant and curious. Like all public organisations, the BBC is not perfect and we must always be open, transparent and accountable.”
“While not the sole reason, the current debate around BBC News understandably contributed to my decision. Overall the BBC performs well, but some mistakes have been made and as Director-General I must take ultimate responsibility.”
Trump was impeached and impeached for his role in the riot and insurrection on January 6, 2021. Felony charges were dropped after he won the 2024 election because the U.S. Justice Department predicted that a sitting president might not face criminal prosecution.
Pressure has been mounting on the broadcaster’s top executives since the Daily Telegraph published parts of a dossier prepared by Michael Prescott, who was appointed to advise the BBC on standards and guidelines.
Alongside the Trump edit, he criticized the BBC’s coverage of transgender issues and raised concerns of anti-Israeli bias on the BBC’s Arabic service.
The 103-year-old BBC faces greater scrutiny than other broadcasters and criticism from commercial rivals because of its status as a national institution funded by the $230 annual license fee paid by all television-owning households.
The BBC broadcasts a wide range of entertainment and sports programs across multiple television and radio stations and online platforms; but it is the BBC’s news output that is mostly examined.
The broadcaster is bound by the terms of its charter to be impartial in its publications, and critics are quick to point this out when they think it has failed. This is often a political football; Conservatives see a leftist slant in his reporting, while some liberals accuse him of having a conservative bias.
He was also criticized from all angles for his coverage of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. In February, the BBC removed a documentary about Gaza from its streaming service after it was revealed that the child narrator was the son of an official in the Hamas-led government.
The change at the BBC comes as Trump has been extremely aggressive in taking legal action against US media companies. Paramount Global raised more than $16 million this summer after Trump complained about the editing of Kamala Harris’ CBS “60 Minutes” interview. Last year, ABC News paid $16 million to settle a defamation lawsuit filed by Trump against anchor George Stephanopoulos.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
