The BBC’s director general Tim Davie and head of news Deborah Turness have quit following criticism that a Panorama documentary misled viewers by editing a speech by Donald Trump.
Davie, in the job for five years, had faced increasing pressure over a series of controversies and accusations of bias that have dogged the public broadcaster.
The Telegraph published details of a leaked internal BBC memo on Monday that suggested the Panorama programme edited two parts of the US president’s speech together so he appeared to explicitly encourage the Capitol Hill riot that took place in January 2021.
UK political leaders expressed hope the resignations would lead to change, while Trump welcomed the decision.
It is unusual for both the director general and the head of BBC News to resign on the same day.
The BBC has not responded in detail to the concerns raised in the internal memo published by the Telegraph.
Announcing the move on Sunday evening, Davie said: “Like all public organisations, 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.
“Overall the BBC is delivering well, but there have been some mistakes made and as director general I have to take ultimate responsibility.”
Turness said in a statement on Sunday night that the Panorama controversy had “reached a stage where it is causing damage to the BBC”, adding: “The buck stops with me.” She said: “In public life leaders need to be fully accountable, and that is why I am stepping down. While mistakes have been made, I want to be absolutely clear recent allegations that BBC News is institutionally biased are wrong.”
Turness has been CEO of News and Current Affairs for the past three years. The internal memo also raised concerns about a lack of action to address what it described as “systemic problems” of bias in BBC Arabic’s coverage of the Israel-Gaza war. In Trump’s speech in Washington DC on 6 January 2021, he said: “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women.” However, in the Panorama edit he was shown saying: “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol… and I’ll be there with you. And we fight. We fight like hell.” The two sections that were stitched together were originally more than 50 minutes apart.
The exposure of the internal memo sparked criticism of the BBC, including from the White House, which described the corporation as “100% fake news”. Trump responded to the resignations on Sunday, saying top people in the BBC were quitting or being fired “because they were caught ‘doctoring’ my very good (PERFECT!) speech of January 6th”. BBC chairman Samir Shah is expected to submit a written statement to a parliamentary committee on Monday.
