Tim Davie, the BBC’s director general, and Deborah Turness, the head of BBC News, have resigned following accusations of “serious and systemic” bias in the corporation’s coverage of issues including Donald Trump, Gaza and trans rights. The resignations came after a former adviser, Michael Prescott, criticised the editing of a Trump speech for Panorama, which spliced together clips from an address on 6 January 2021 to suggest Trump said: “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol and I’ll be there with you, and we fight. We fight like hell.” The words were taken from sections almost an hour apart.
In a note to staff, Davie said his departure was “entirely my decision” and that he retained the “unswerving and unanimous support” of the BBC’s board and its chair, Samir Shah. However, he said the current debate around BBC News had “understandably contributed to my decision”. Shah described Davie’s departure as a “sad day” and said the board respected the decision. Sources within BBC News described a mood of dismay at Turness’s exit, with one saying: “It feels like a coup. This is the result of a campaign by political enemies of the BBC.”
The resignations come as the BBC prepares to apologise for the way it edited the Trump speech. The US president’s press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, had described the BBC as “100% fake news” and a “propaganda machine”. Trump posted on Truth Social that “very dishonest people” had “tried to step on the scales of a Presidential Election”, adding: “On top of everything else, they are from a Foreign Country, one that many consider our Number One Ally. What a terrible thing for democracy!”
Prescott’s letter, passed to the Daily Telegraph, also condemned BBC Arabic for using contributors who had expressed antisemitic views, including one who had stated online that Jews should be burned “as Hitler did”. The BBC has previously said that person should not have been featured. The departures mark a huge moment for the corporation as it heads into critical talks with the government over its future and funding.
