BBC Director-General Tim Davie resigns over Trump speech editing row

The BBC director general resigned on Sunday after the British broadcaster was criticized for editing a Trump speech that some said was misleading.

Tim Davie, 58, who has served as BBC director general since September 2020, announced his resignation after leading the company for five years.

His exit follows growing controversy around the BBC Panorama documentary about President Donald Trump’s speech ahead of the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Critics said the edit of the speech was misleading because it omitted a section in which Trump called on his supporters to protest peacefully.

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In the speech at the center of the dispute, Trump was seen telling his supporters: “I know everyone here will peacefully and patriotically march to the Capitol building soon to make your voices heard.”

The broadcast version of the BBC documentary reportedly excluded this line but retained the phrase “fight like hell”.

In a letter to staff, Davie said it was “entirely my decision” to quit.

“The BBC is performing well overall but some mistakes have been made and as director general I must take ultimate responsibility,” Davie said.

He added that he was “working with the board on precise timings to ensure an orderly transition to a successor in the coming months.”

Davie’s resignation follows the resignation of BBC Head of News and Current Affairs, Deborah Turness.

Turness said the controversy over the Trump documentary had “reached a stage where it is damaging to the BBC, an institution I love. As CEO of BBC News and Current Affairs, the responsibility falls on me.”

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A general view shows the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Television Center in West London. (Toby Melville/Reuters)

Trump reacted to the developments in his post on Truth Social on Sunday.

“The BEST people at the BBC, including TIM DAVIE and THE BOSS, are all resigning/fired because they were caught ‘editing’ my very good (EXCELLENT!) speech on January 6th,” the president wrote. “Thank you to The Telegraph for exposing these Corrupt ‘Journalists’. They are very dishonorable people trying to tip the scales of the Presidential election. Above all, they come from a Foreign Country that many consider to be our Number One Ally. What a terrible thing for Democracy!”

The pressure intensified after The Telegraph published extracts from a dossier compiled by Michael Prescott, a communications consultant appointed by the BBC to review its editorial standards.

The documents criticized some aspects of BBC reporting, including Trump’s editing, coverage of transgender issues and allegations of anti-Israel bias on the BBC’s Arabic service.

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White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt takes a question from a reporter during the daily press briefing in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on November 4, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Trump’s press secretary Karoline Leavitt also described the BBC as “100% fake news” and a “propaganda machine” in an interview after allegations of bias at the broadcaster emerged.

In an interview with Telegram He said: “This deliberately dishonest, selectively edited clip by the BBC is further proof that this is completely, 100% fake news and should no longer be worth the time of the great public of the UK on their television screens.”

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Leavitt also said watching BBC bulletins during their trip to England had “ruined” his day and that taxpayers were being “forced to foot the bill for a left-wing propaganda machine”.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the BBC and the White House for comment.