GMB presenters Susanna Reid and Richard Madeley clash live on air over Tim Davie BBC row

GMB presenters Susanna Reid and Richard Madeley clash on live TV over Tim Davie BBC row Source: ITV

Transcript

00:00I didn't see the documentary when it went out.

00:03None of us can watch the documentary now to judge it.

00:05If there was a defence for that entity, it would have been made last week.

00:07It would have been made last week by the BBC and they haven't said a word.

00:10My defence is not of the documentary.

00:12OK.

00:12My defence is of the BBC.

00:1421,000 people work for the BBC.

00:17To think that the Director General has to be responsible for the output

00:21of all those 21,000 people is simply unrealistic.

00:25I understand why the head of news has resigned,

00:27because this was on her watch.

00:29I can totally understand that she carries the can.

00:31She said herself in her resignation letter, the buck stops with me.

00:35But the Director General going over a misleading edit on Panorama.

00:39It is more than a misleading edit.

00:41This is the President of the United States being grievously misrepresented

00:46by the flagship documentary programme of the BBC.

00:49And excuse me.

00:49You know, he was the subject of impeachment for inciting those riots.

00:54Yes, and actually he was cleared.

00:56We may not like that.

00:57In the Senate trial, 57 senators voted to convict and 43 voted to acquit.

01:04I am not defending Donald Trump.

01:05A majority of senators voted to acquit.

01:08But that doesn't entitle you to bend the truth.

01:11I totally agree.

01:12Right.

01:12But did it...

01:13Can I just answer your question about the DG resigning?

01:15Yeah.

01:15He absolutely should have resigned, because his lack of any commentary last week

01:20in the face of this criticism, if there was a defence to be made of that edit,

01:24of the kind that you put forward this morning, he should have made it.

01:26He didn't...

01:27He stayed completely silent.

01:28Can I just say, you've just misrepresented what I said.