The BBC has been plunged into a major leadership crisis following the resignations of its Director-General Tim Davie and news chief Deborah Turness amid growing outrage over the broadcaster’s handling of a documentary that featured a heavily edited clip of US President Donald Trump’s January 6, 2021 speech.
The controversy erupted after the BBC’s flagship current affairs programme Panorama aired an edited version of Trump’s remarks, in which sections calling for a “peaceful” demonstration were omitted.
The edit created the impression that Trump had urged his supporters to march and “fight like hell,” a phrase he used later in the speech, unconnected to his call for a protest outside the Capitol.
The issue quickly escalated into a political storm, with Trump accusing the BBC of “trying to rig a presidential election” through what he described as “corrupt journalism.”
He praised the resignations of the network’s top executives and reposted news coverage of the fallout on his Truth Social platform, calling the incident “a terrible thing for democracy.”
BBC chairman Samir Shah is expected to issue a formal apology for what he termed “a lapse in editorial judgment.”
In a letter to staff, Davie said he accepted “ultimate responsibility” for the error, while Turness acknowledged the damage caused by the incident but rejected claims that the BBC harboured institutional bias.
The resignations follow a damning report published by The Daily Telegraph, which cited a leaked internal review by media adviser Michael Prescott.
The dossier raised questions not only about the Trump edit but also about the BBC’s coverage of transgender issues and allegations of anti-Israel bias within its Arabic service.
The 103-year-old broadcaster, funded by a mandatory license fee from UK households, has long faced scrutiny over its impartiality.
Critics across the political spectrum have accused it of bias, with conservatives often alleging a liberal tilt and progressives claiming the opposite.
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The latest controversy comes at a time when the BBC is already under fire for its reporting on the Israel-Hamas conflict.
In February, it pulled a Gaza documentary after it was revealed that the child narrator was the son of an official in the Hamas-led administration.
As pressure mounts on the corporation, former BBC editor and ex-Downing Street communications chief Craig Oliver criticised the network’s slow response to the scandal.
“The BBC should have acted faster—apologised, explained, and defended its standards. Instead, it allowed days of silence while the President of the United States attacked the institution,” he said.
The crisis has renewed debate about the BBC’s editorial independence and the challenges it faces maintaining neutrality in an increasingly polarised media landscape.
