BBC director general Tim Davie and head of news Deborah Turness have resigned.
The BBC has been under fire after criticism that a Panorama documentary misled viewers, when it edited a speech by Donald Trump, making it look like he was explicitly urging people to attack the US Capitol.
It was highlighted in a leaked BBC memo, published by the Telegraph newspaper last week.
BBC chair Samir Shah has now addressed the story, saying that after “further reflection… the BBC would like to apologise for that error of judgement.”
In resignation emails to BBC staff, Davie and Turness said mistakes had been made.
The memo also criticised other areas of BBC News, including reporting of trans issues, and BBC Arabic’s coverage of the Israel-Gaza war.
But on Monday Sir Keir Starmer’s spokesman said the prime minister does not believe the BBC is “institutionally biased”.
Number 10 also denied the BBC was “corrupt” – a word Trump used to describe some journalists at the corporation.
Who are Tim Davie and Deborah Turness?
Tim Davie was appointed director general of the BBC in September 2020.
Earning a salary between £540,000 and £544,999, he oversees the corporation’s services and is responsible for its editorial, operational and creative leadership.
Deborah Turness, whose salary was between £430,000 and £434,999, had been the CEO of BBC News since 2022, overseeing news and current affairs programmes.
Her role has responsibility for a team of about 6,000 people, broadcasting to audiences of almost half a billion across the world, in more than 40 languages.
It is both seismic and unprecedented for both of them to quit the corporation at the same time, says BBC Culture and Media editor Katie Razzall.
What were the claims over the Trump documentary?
Davie and Turness’s resignations come after controversy over a Panorama documentary called Trump: A Second Chance? It was broadcast on 28 October 2024, just days before the US presidential election.
Last week, the Telegraph published an exclusive report, saying it had seen a leaked internal BBC memo.
The memo came from Michael Prescott, a former independent external adviser to the broadcaster’s editorial standards committee. He left the role in June, saying said he sent it in “despair at inaction by the BBC Executive”.
The memo suggested that the one-hour Panorama documentary had edited parts of Trump’s speech together, so he appeared to explicitly encourage the Capitol Hill riot of January 2021.
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 “fight like hell” comment was taken from a section where Trump discussed how “corrupt” US elections were. In total, he used the words “fight” or “fighting” 20 times in the speech.
According to the Telegraph, the document said Panorama’s “distortion of the day’s events” would leave viewers asking: “Why should the BBC be trusted, and where will this all end?”
When the issue was raised with managers, the memo continued, they “refused to accept there had been a breach of standards”.
The BBC has received more than 500 complaints since the Telegraph’s story was published, said the corporation’s chairman in a letter to Dame Caroline Dineage, chair of the Culture, Media and Sports Committee, on 10 November.
“It has also prompted further reflection from the BBC,” he said.
“The conclusion of that deliberation is that we accept that the way the speech was edited did give the impression of a direct call for violent action. The BBC would like to apologise for that error of judgement.”
What were the claims about BBC Arabic’s reporting on Israel-Gaza war?
The Telegraph also made claims about BBC reporting in other areas of news.
It said Mr Prescott raised concerns about a lack of action to address “systemic problems” of bias in BBC Arabic’s coverage of the Israel-Gaza war.
In response, a BBC spokesperson said at the time: “Where mistakes have been made or errors have occurred we have acknowledged them at the time and taken action.”
They added: “We have also previously acknowledged that certain contributors should not have been used and have improved our processes to avoid a repeat of this.”
What were the claims about BBC coverage of trans issues?
Reports also said Mr Prescott raised concerns about the BBC’s coverage around trans issues, saying it was effectively “censored” by its specialist LGBT reporters, who promoted a pro-trans agenda.
This was again raised as an issue on Thursday when the BBC upheld 20 impartiality complaints over the way presenter Martine Croxall earlier this year altered a BBC News Channel script, which referred to “pregnant people”.
The presenter changed her script to instead say “women”, and the BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit said it considered her facial expression as she said this gave the “strong impression of expressing a personal view on a controversial matter”.
What did Davie and Turness say when they resigned?
Davie did not mention the Panorama documentary in his statement, although he 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.”
Prior to becoming director general, he had been chief executive of BBC Studios for seven years.
In her statement, Turness said: “The ongoing controversy around the Panorama on President Trump has reached a stage where it is causing damage to the BBC – an institution that I love.
“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 added: “While mistakes have been made, I want to be absolutely clear recent allegations that BBC News is institutionally biased are wrong.”
What other controversies has Davie faced?
Tim Davie has weathered many scandals and crises during his five years leading the BBC.
These include the Gary Lineker furore, Bob Vylan at Glastonbury, the Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone documentary, controversies over Strictly Come Dancing and Master Chef, and the transgressions of a string of high-profile presenters.
He was nicknamed “Teflon Tim” by some in the media because nothing seemed to stick.
His resignation comes at a sensitive time for the BBC, with the government set to review the corporation’s Royal Charter – which essentially gives it the right to exist – before the current term expires in 2027.
This appears to have contributed to his decision to quit.
In his statement, Davie said: “You will ask why now, why this moment?”
He said he was “BBC through and through”, and cares deeply about the corporation and wants it to succeed.
“That is why I want to create the best conditions and space for a new DG to come in and positively shape the next Royal Charter. I hope that as we move forward, a sensible, calm and rational public conversation can take place about the next chapter of the BBC.”
He added: “This timing allows a new DG to help shape the next Charter. I believe we are in a strong position to deliver growth.”
What reaction has there been to the resignations?
President Trump said top people in the BBC were quitting or being fired “because they were caught ‘doctoring’ my very good (PERFECT!) speech of January 6th”.
“These are very dishonest people who tried to step on the scales of a Presidential Election,” he wrote. “What a terrible thing for Democracy!”
Dame Caroline Dinenage, the Conservative chair of the Culture, Media and Sport committee, said the resignations of Davie and Turness last night were “avoidable”.
However, she said Davie had been “slow to react” on the issues raised in Michael Prescott’s memo, following a series of editorial crises over the summer. “The BBC just seem to have dropped the ball at every opportunity,” she said. “And that’s not a board-level problem, that’s an institutional problem.”
Dame Caroline rejected an argument made by ex-Sun editor David Yelland that there had been a “coup” by the BBC board. She said Davie did not stand down because the board asked him to, but because of an “editorial failure”.
Mark Damazer, former controller of BBC Radio 4, said he welcomes debate about the BBC’s impartiality, but that it is “absolutely wrong” to say that the corporation is “systemically biased”.
“The notion that there is this widespread satisfied, smug, liberal, incompetent culture” is “wildly, wildly overblown”, he said.
How will the BBC choose Davie’s replacement?
The BBC Board “must now begin the long process of rebuilding the corporation’s reputation, both at home and abroad”, said Dame Caroline.
The director general is appointed by the BBC Board, which is responsible for ensuring it delivers the corporation’s mission and public purposes.
The BBC Board is led by chair Samir Shah and he is one of 10 non-executive members, plus four executive members, including the director general.
Davie’s successor will be the 18th director general in the BBC’s 103-year history.
Names who have been rumoured as potential contenders in the running include Charlotte Moore, the BBC’s recently-departed chief content officer who was in charge of all programming except news, overseeing hits including The Traitors, The Wheel and Happy Valley.
Other names include Jay Hunt, one of the most experienced executives in British TV, and James Harding, the BBC’s head of news from 2013 to 2018.
