The Director-General of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Tim Davie, has resigned following a controversy over the editing of a documentary about U.S. President Donald Trump.
Davie and the BBC’s Head of News, Deborah Turness, stepped down after allegations surfaced that a recent Panorama documentary misrepresented Trump’s speech through selective editing.
“Like all public organisations, the BBC is not perfect, and we must always be open, transparent, and accountable,” Davie said in a statement published on the BBC’s website.
“While not being the only reason, the current debate around BBC News has understandably contributed to my decision… I have to take ultimate responsibility.”
The resignations came a week after The Sunday Telegraph leaked an internal BBC memo raising concerns about the documentary’s accuracy.
Earlier on Sunday, UK Culture, Media and Sport Minister Lisa Nandy described the allegations as “incredibly serious,” saying they raised broader questions about editorial integrity at the publicly funded broadcaster.
The BBC said its chair, Samir Shah, would appear before a parliamentary committee on Monday to provide a full explanation, which is expected to include a formal apology.
The disputed footage came from Trump’s speech on January 6, 2021, when his supporters stormed the U.S Capitol.
Edited clips in the BBC programme allegedly made it appear that Trump encouraged supporters to march to the Capitol and “fight like hell.”
In the unedited version, however, 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.”
The documentary, titled “Trump: A Second Chance?”, aired shortly before last year’s U.S. presidential election.
Minister Nandy added that the incident was part of a “series of very serious allegations” concerning editorial consistency at the BBC.
“It isn’t just about the Panorama programme,” she said.
“There are systemic concerns about bias and inconsistencies in how difficult issues are reported, whether on Israel and Gaza, trans people, or President Trump.”
The BBC has faced previous criticism this year over its documentary “Gaza: How To Survive a Warzone,” which it admitted contained “serious flaws.”
In October, the broadcaster accepted a sanction from the UK media watchdog after it emerged that the film’s child narrator was the son of a former Hamas official.
