BBC director general Tim Davie and News CEO Deborah Turness resign over Trump documentary edit
PA Media
Davie said the current debate around BBC News “has understandably contributed to my decision”
Tim Davie has resigned as the director general of the BBC following criticism a Panorama documentary misled viewers by editing a speech by US President Donald Trump.
Deborah Turness, the corporation’s head of News, has also stepped down from her role over the issue.
Davie had held the top job for five years, but had faced increasing pressure over a series of controversies.
The Telegraph published details of a leaked internal BBC memo on Monday that suggested the Panorama programme edited two parts of Trump’s speech together so he appeared to explicitly encourage the Capitol Hill riots of January 2021.
Announcing his resignation 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.”
In his speech in Washington DC on 6 January 2021, Trump 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 of the speech that were edited together were more than 50 minutes apart.
The publication of the internal memo sparked criticism of the BBC, including from the White House, which described the corporation as “100% fake news” and a “propaganda machine”.
The pair’s resignations come ahead of BBC chairman Samir Shah providing a statement to a parliamentary committee on Monday in which he is expected to apologise for the way the speech was edited.
Commenting on the resignations on Sunday, Shah said it was a “sad day for the BBC” and that Davie “had the full support of me and the [BBC] board throughout” his tenure.
He continued: “However, I understand the continued pressure on him, personally and professionally, which has led him to take this decision today. The whole board respects the decision and the reasons for it.”
Turness said in a statement on Sunday night the Panorama controversy had “reached a stage where it is causing damage to the BBC”, adding: “The buck stops with me.”
Jeff Overs / BBC
Turness said “recent allegations that BBC News is institutionally biased are wrong”
She has been CEO of News and Current Affairs for the past three years.
Turness 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.”
The internal memo published by the Telegraph 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.
The memo also expressed concerns about the BBC’s coverage of trans issues.
Separately on Thursday, the BBC upheld 20 impartiality complaints over the way presenter Martine Croxall altered a script she was reading live earlier this year on the BBC News Channel, which referred to “pregnant people”.
The corporation has also faced criticism in recent months over failing to disclose that the narrator of a documentary about Gaza was the son of a Hamas official.
The BBC’s broadcast of a Glastonbury set in which punk duo Bob Vylan led a chant of “death, death to the IDF [Israel Defence Forces]” also broke editorial guidelines in relation to harm and offence.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said earlier on Sunday that the broadcaster was facing “very serious allegations” but the BBC’s leadership was treating them with the seriousness they demanded.
Davie, who has worked for the corporation for 20 years, stressed “our journalism and quality content continues to be admired as a gold standard” and that the organisation was “overwhelmingly kind, tolerant and curious”.
He said the timing of his departure – which will involve an “orderly transition to a successor over the coming months” – would allow the next director general to “positively shape” the next Royal Charter.
The Royal Charter sets the funding and regulatory duties of the BBC and is negotiated with the government. A new one must be reached before the current one expires at the end of 2027.
