Tim Davie had a ‘blind spot’ on BBC editorial failings, author of bombshell memo claims
The author of a leaked memo about impartiality at the company said Tim Davie had a “blind spot” for editorial errors at the broadcaster.
Speaking before the Commons culture, media and sport committee, Michael Prescott said Mr Davie was a “superb talent” but had failed to tackle “incipient problems” at the company before resigning after the bombshell memo was made public.
But Mr Prescott, a former independent adviser to the BBC’s broadcasting rules and standards board, also insisted the broadcaster was not institutionally biased.
He had authored a report raising concerns that a Panorama segment contained selective editing of a speech President Donald Trump gave ahead of the 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Mr Davie resigned after BBC director general and news chief Deborah Turness resigned, while chairman Samir Shah apologized on behalf of the BBC for an “error of judgement” and admitted the editing of the 2024 documentary gave “the impression of a direct call to violent action”.
Mr Prescott told MPs that Mr Davie “seems to me to be doing a first-class job on 80 or 90 per cent of the portfolio”, but added: “He just had a blind spot for editorial failures. I think it’s a bit of a tragedy that he’s gone.”
“I thought he was a supreme talent, but he had a blind spot.”
Asked whether it was right for Mr Davie to resign, Mr Prescott told MPs: “I was hoping that they would get on top of these problems, start dealing with them in a systematic and more methodical way and everything would work out.”
But he insisted he wrote the note because he was a “strong supporter of the BBC” and said there was “no party policy” behind his decision.
“The BBC employs talented professionals across all of its factual and non-factual programmes, and most people in this country, including me, would go so far as to say they love the BBC,” he said.
“What bothered me was that throughout my three years on the BBC standards committee we continued to see incipient problems that I thought were not being properly addressed. And in fact I thought the problems were getting worse.”
He added: “There was no ideology or party politics involved here. I just [the BBC] to be impartial, accurate and fair.”
Asked if he thought the publisher was institutionally biased, he said: “No, I don’t… I don’t think it’s institutionally biased.
“Let’s be very clear. Tons of things the BBC does are world class, both in terms of factual programming and non-factual programming.”
The statement came after Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch said Mr Prescott’s report into the Panorama video had exposed “institutional bias that cannot be remedied by two resignations”; Reform UK leader Nigel Farage claimed that “the BBC has been institutionally biased for decades”.
Mr. Prescott’s memo highlighted concerns that clips of Mr. Trump’s Jan. 6, 2021, speech were stitched together to appear to tell supporters he would march with them to the U.S. Capitol to “fight like hell.”
After the report was made public, the US president threatened the BBC with a billion-dollar lawsuit, while the US regulator, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), also launched an investigation.
As Sir Keir Starmer comes under increasing pressure to intervene in the dispute, it emerged on Monday that he had avoided raising the legal challenge when speaking to the US president at the weekend.
According to the information, the 30-minute call between Mr Trump and the prime minister focused on Ukraine, with sources admitting Trump did not talk about the BBC.
