Tim Davie and broadcaster's head of news, Deborah Turness, resigned after accusations that a documentary had edited a speech by Trump in a misleading way.
00:01The Director General of the BBC announced his resignation on Sunday following a row
00:06over the editing of a documentary about US President Donald Trump.
00:10Tim Davy and the broadcaster's head of news Deborah Ternis resigned after accusations
00:15that a documentary by its flagship Panorama programme had edited a speech by Trump in a misleading way.
00:22Reacting to the news, Trump said, quote,
00:25Corrupt journalists had been exposed, adding, quote,
00:28They are very dishonest people who tried to step on the scales of a presidential election.
00:34Announcing his resignation, Davy said in a statement posted on the BBC website,
00:38Like all public organisations, the BBC is not perfect and we must always be open, transparent and accountable.
00:45While not being the only reason the current debate around BBC News has understandably contributed to my decision,
00:51I have to take ultimate responsibility.
00:55The latest controversy follows a Daily Telegraph report this week that said concerns were first raised in the summer
01:01in a memo on impartiality by Michael Prescott, a former external adviser to the BBC's Editorial Standards Committee.
01:10Earlier Sunday, the UK Culture, Media and Sport Minister Lisa Nandy called the allegations incredibly serious.
01:17The BBC has promised a full response to Parliament's Culture, Media and Sport Committee on Monday.
01:23The criticism emerged over clips spliced together from sections of a Trump speech on January 6, 2021,
01:29when he was accused of fomenting the mob attack on the US Capitol seeking to keep him in power,
01:35despite losing his re-election bid.
01:38The edit made it appear he had told supporters he was going to walk to the US Capitol with them and, quote,
01:45fight like hell.
01:47In the undoctored clip, however, the President urged the audience to walk with him and we are going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women.
01:57At the time, Trump was still disputing President Joe Biden's election victory in a vote that saw him ousted after his first term in office.
02:06The edit was included in a documentary entitled Trump A Second Chance that was broadcast by the BBC the week before last year's US election.
02:15White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt seemed to rejoice over the news, posting on X a screenshot of the BBC News website announcing the resignation.
02:25Levitt was previously quoted by The Telegraph condemning, quote,
02:29this purposefully dishonestly, selectively edited clip by the BBC.
02:34The BBC is funded by a licence fee paid by anyone who watches live TV in the UK.
02:40Earlier this year, it issued several apologies for, quote,
02:43serious flaws in the making of another documentary entitled,
02:47How to Survive a War Zone, broadcast in February.
02:51In October, it accepted a sanction from the UK media watchdog for what was deemed a materially misleading program,
02:58whose child narrator was later revealed to be the son of Hamas's former deputy agriculture minister.
Be the first to comment