BBC Director General Tim Davie and head of news Deborah Turness resigned on Sunday after criticism of the way the United Kingdom’s public broadcaster edited a speech by US President Donald Trump.
The scandal is the latest to hit the BBC, which has also been accused of failing to maintain its political neutrality in its reporting of the Israel-Hamas war.
Other recent controversies include child abuse scandals and allegations of bullying and sexual assault against high-profile presenters.
What do we know about the resignations?
In a statement, BBC chief Davie acknowledged that “the BBC is not perfect and we must always be open, transparent and accountable.”
“While not being the only reason, the current debate around BBC News has understandably contributed to my decision… I have to take ultimate responsibility.”
Davie insisted the resignation was “entirely my decision.”
In a note to staff, he said that he was “working through exact timings with the Board to allow for an orderly transition to a successor over the coming months.”
BBC News CEO Turness, meanwhile, said questions over the Trump documentary have “reached a stage where it is causing damage to the BBC, an institution that I love. As the CEO of BBC News and Current Affairs, the buck stops with me.”
“While mistakes have been made, I want to be absolutely clear recent allegations that BBC News is institutionally biased are wrong,” she wrote in a letter to staff.
Reuters news agency cited a person familiar with the situation as saying that the BBC board was stunned at Davie’s decision.
Trump gave his reaction to the resignations, lauding the exposure of “corrupt journalists,” adding, “these are very dishonest people who tried to step on the scales of a Presidential Election.”
What was wrong with the Trump documentary?
Pressure on the broadcaster’s top executives has been growing since the Daily Telegraph newspaper published parts of a dossier by a BBC advisor on standards and guidelines.
The dossier criticized the way Trump’s January 6, 2021, speech was edited for a BBC documentary, arguing it was misleading as it removed a section where Trump said he wanted supporters to demonstrate peacefully.
The memo suggested the flagship Panorama program had edited two parts of Trump’s speech together so he appeared to encourage the Capitol Hill riots.
The documentary showed Trump telling supporters that “we’re going to walk down to the Capitol” and that they would “fight like hell,” from a different part of his speech.
The leaked dossier described “serious and systemic problems” with the BBC’s impartiality, stating that the Panorama edit was “completely misleading.”
Why did the BBC chief have to resign?
In the UK, the BBC operates under far tighter scrutiny than its commercial competitors, largely due to its unique position as a publicly funded national broadcaster, reliant on a compulsory annual licence fee from every UK household with a TV.
Bound strictly by its royal charter to maintain impartiality across all output, any perceived deviation invites immediate and intense backlash from politicians, viewers and rivals alike.
As well as the leaked media reports, complaints about the Trump documentary sparked an investigation by the UK’s media regulator and prompted the White House to brand the BBC “fake news.”
These developments have likely piled unbearable pressure on the two executives, prompting their departures, media watchers say.
Edited by: Saim Dušan Inayatullah
