BBC top bosses resign amid row over Trump’s capital speech edit in documentary

BBC said the edited speech of President Trump used in one of the episodes of its documentary series by its Panorama programme misled the viewers.

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“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,” BBC wrote on its website.

Tim Davie and Deborah Turness are expected to apologise today, reports said.

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The issue came to light after The Telegraph published details of a leaked internal BBC memo that indicated that edited two parts of the US president’s speech together that made it look like he encouraged the Capitol Hill riot of January 2021.

Reacting to the news, Donald Trump said “corrupt journalists” had been exposed, adding “these are very dishonest people who tried to step on the scales of a Presidential Election”.

BBC executives respond

On Sunday, Davie took the responsibility of the issue as he announced his decision. “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,” he said.

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Turness said the controversy surrounding the Panorama programme had “reached a stage where it is causing damage to the BBC”.

“The buck stops with me,” she said.