Director General of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Tim Davie, and CEO of BBC News, Deborah Turness, have resigned from their positions following widespread criticism over the editing of a documentary involving United States President Donald Trump.
The controversy erupted after The Telegraph published an exclusive report last Monday, revealing that an edited clip in the BBC Panorama documentary, Trump: A Second Chance?, appeared to show Trump encouraging the 2021 Capitol Hill riot.
The report cited a leaked internal whistleblowing memo from Michael Prescott, a former independent external adviser to the broadcaster’s editorial standards committee.
In the documentary, Trump said, “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol… and I’ll be there with you. And we fight. We fight like hell.”
However, the memo noted that the “fight like hell” remark was taken from a section of his speech over 50 minutes apart from the original context, where he had said, “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women.”
The whistleblower explained that the edited statement was part of a discussion on how “corrupt” US elections were, and that the Panorama edit distorted the events of the day, leaving viewers questioning the BBC’s trustworthiness.
“Why should the BBC be trusted, and where will this all end?” the memo reportedly asked.
According to the leaked document, concerns raised with BBC management were dismissed, with managers refusing to acknowledge a breach of editorial standards.
Davie, who joined the BBC in September 2020, said, “There have been some mistakes made, and as Director General, I have to take ultimate responsibility.”
Turness, a BBC staff member since 2022, also acknowledged mistakes but defended the organisation, stating, “Recent allegations that BBC News is institutionally biased are wrong.”
The BBC has recently faced scrutiny over claims of anti-Israel bias in its Arabic service’s coverage of the Gaza war, and Prescott’s memo additionally highlighted concerns about coverage surrounding trans issues.
Trump described the edit as a “terrible thing” for democracy, intensifying the global attention on the broadcaster.
