The Director-General of the BBC, Tim Davie, has reportedly announced his resignation following a major controversy over the editing of a documentary on U.S. President Donald Trump.
The broadcaster’s head of news, Deborah Turness, also stepped down.
Naijaonpoint reports that the resignations come after accusations that the BBC’s flagship Panorama programme misleadingly edited Trump’s January 6, 2021, speech in a documentary titled “Trump: A Second Chance?”, aired the week before last year’s US election.
Reacting to the development, Trump celebrated the resignations, declaring that “corrupt journalists” had been exposed.
“These are very dishonest people who tried to step on the scales of a Presidential Election,” he posted.
In a statement published on the BBC website, Davie acknowledged that the controversy over editorial standards contributed to his decision.
“Like all public organisations, the BBC is not perfect, and we must always be open, transparent and accountable,” he wrote.
“While not being the only reason, the current debate around BBC News has understandably contributed to my decision… I have to take ultimate responsibility.”
The row intensified after a Daily Telegraph report revealed that concerns had been raised as far back as the summer in a memo on impartiality by Michael Prescott, a former adviser to the BBC’s editorial standards committee.
Before the resignations were announced, the UK Culture, Media and Sport Minister, Lisa Nandy, described the allegations as “incredibly serious.”
She warned that the controversy went beyond the Panorama episode.
“There are a series of very serious allegations made, the most serious of which is that there is systemic bias in the way that difficult issues are reported at the BBC,” she said on BBC television.
Nandy raised concerns over inconsistent editorial standards and language used in reports covering topics such as Israel, Gaza, trans issues, and the Trump controversy.
Misleading Edit Sparked Internal and Public Outrage
Naijaonpoint reports that the BBC faced criticism for splicing together clips from Trump’s January 6 speech in a way that appeared to show him encouraging supporters to march on the US Capitol and “fight like hell.”
The unedited footage showed Trump urging the crowd to walk with him to “cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women,” even as he continued to challenge Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.
The contested edit was included in the documentary aired shortly before the 2024 US elections, prompting accusations that the BBC attempted to influence public perception of Trump.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt celebrated Davie’s resignation, posting a screenshot of the BBC announcement on X. She had earlier blasted the broadcaster for a “purposefully dishonest, selectively edited clip.”
The BBC is funded by mandatory licence fees paid by UK households that watch live television.
The organisation has been under heightened scrutiny this year. In February, the BBC issued multiple apologies over “serious flaws” in its documentary “Gaza: How To Survive a Warzone.”
In October, it accepted a sanction from the UK media watchdog after airing a “materially misleading” programme narrated by a child later revealed to be the son of Hamas’s former deputy agriculture minister.
According to AFP, the broadcaster is expected to provide “a full response” to the UK parliament’s culture, media and sport committee on Monday as pressure mounts for reform and internal accountability.
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