Perhaps envious of our country’s flagship news magazine series finding itself in hotwater with Trump over selective editing, the BBC now its own issues with the American president, and it’s reshaping its news organization as a result. BBC Director General Tim Davie and BBC News CEO Deborah Turness resigned abruptly earlier today, per the BBC, over a controversy related to the editing of a documentary about Trump’s role in the January 6 coup attempt. The documentary Trump: A Second Chance? aired last year on the current affairs program Panorama, but no one noticed until now that its editing was a bit wonky. The controversy surrounding the documentary came to light last week, when an internal memo revealed that it had edited two disparate parts of Trump’s “Stop The Steal” speech together. The situation appears reminiscent of the one that sent $16 million into President Trump’s presidential library and Bari Weiss to the top of CBS, except that the two sections of the speech were more than 50 minutes apart.
The Telegraph initially reported on the controversial editing after obtaining an internal memo that argued that the BBC “completely misled” its viewers by making the U.S. President “say things [he] never actually said.” The Telegraph plans to publish the memo, which appears to be a gift basket of dubious conservative grievances about media, including Palestinian bias in its coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza and “effective censorship” in coverage of the so-called “transgender debate.” For his part, the president’s eldest, Donald Trump Jr., responded to the news by reposting the Telegraph‘s story and writing, “The FAKE NEWS ‘reporters’ in the UK are just as dishonest and full of shit as the ones here in America!!!!” We, too, hope that Dad notices this time.
In a statement, former CEO Turness took responsibility for the edit. “As the CEO of BBC News and Current Affairs, the buck stops with me—and I took the decision to offer my resignation to the director general last night,” she said. “While mistakes have been made, I want to be absolutely clear that recent allegations that BBC News is institutionally biased are wrong.”
Davie also released a statement, taking “ultimate responsibility” for the controversy. “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,” he said. “Overall, the BBC is delivering well, but there have been some mistakes made and as director general I have to take ultimate responsibility.”
In 2022, the House committee investigating the insurrection concluded that Trump played a substantial role in the January 6 insurrection and recommended he be formally prosecuted. According to PBS, the committee discovered enough evidence to convict Trump of assisting, aiding, or comforting an insurrection.
