Two top BBC executives abruptly resigned Sunday after criticism blew up over the British network’s editing of a Donald Trump interview for a documentary mentioning the Jan. 6, 2021, attacks on the U.S. Capitol.
Tim Davies announced his departure as director-general, a post he held for five years, ending his 20-year tenure at the publicly funded network. He said leaving now would set up the BBC for further growth as a new person takes the reins, and that he would remain onboard to help with the transition.
News CEO Deborah Turness quit because controversy about the documentary “Trump: A Second Chance?” that aired a week before the U.S. election in October 2024 “has reached a stage where it is causing damage to the BBC — an institution that I love,” she said. “As the CEO of BBC News and Current Affairs, the buck stops with me.”
Both execs said in separate statements that they bore ultimate responsibility for what aired on the 103-year-old, publicly funded network.
“Like all public organizations, the BBC is not perfect, and we must always be open, transparent and accountable,” Davies said. “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.”
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BBC News CEO Deborah Turness also resigned Sunday because of controversy about the documentary. (Getty)
In a note to staff, Turness also emphasized taking responsibility.
“In public life leaders need to be fully accountable, and that is why I am stepping down,” she said in the note. “While mistakes have been made, I want to be absolutely clear recent allegations that BBC News is institutionally biased are wrong.”
Criticism has long been aimed at the BBC from all sides of the political spectrum — charging it was both too liberal or left-wing, and too conservative.
Critics said the interview had been spliced to give the impression that Trump had explicitly incited a militant mob to attack the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The Telegraph, citing an “internal whistleblowing memo,” reported a portion of the speech in which Trump encouraged supporters to demonstrate peacefully had landed on the cutting-room floor.
In the documentary, part of the BBC’s Panorama series, several separate phrases of Trump’s were spliced together so it appeared he was saying, “We’re gonna walk down to the Capitol and I’ll be there with you and we fight. We fight like hell and if you don’t fight like hell you’re not gonna have a country any more,” The Telegraph said.
What was left out was Trump’s statement that “I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.”
Trump immediately celebrated the exposure of “these corrupt ‘journalists’ ” — claiming the “TOP people in the BBC” were “quitting/FIRED because they were caught ‘doctoring’ my very good (PERFECT!) speech of January 6th,” spokesperson Karoline Leavitt posted on X.
With News Wire Services
