British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) director general Tim Davie and CEO of News Deborah Turness have resigned over a documentary about Donald Trump.
The Telegraph published a leaked BBC memo suggesting a Panorama documentary edited two parts of Trump’s speech together so he appeared to explicitly encourage the Capitol Hill riots of January 2021
The memo also criticised other areas of BBC News coverage
In a statement, Davie says: “There have been some mistakes made and as director general I have to take ultimate responsibility.”
In a separate statement, Turness says “the buck stops with me,” describing the decision to step down as “difficult.”
Davie weathered many scandals during his time leading the BBC, but not this final one, our culture reporter writes.
● The BBC losing both director general and head of News is highly unusual- Analysis
This is unprecedented news, for the corporation to lose two such senior and important posts at the same time.
Between them, Tim Davie and Deborah Turness had responsibility for the corporation’s output, and carried its reputation.
As director general, Davie was the BBC’s most senior figure – he was its editorial, operational and creative leader. Turness, as its CEO of News, headed up the corporation’s news output, across TV, radio and online, which is followed around the world.
The corporation has weathered the resignation of directors general before now, such as George Entwistle, who resigned in 2012, and Greg Dyke, who resigned in 2004.
But Davie and Turness’s double resignation has left the BBC exposed and destabilised, while it has to regroup and find temporary staff to appoint into their roles.
Whoever replaces them will have to step straight into dealing with a series of recent critical news reports.
Some suggested bias at the corporation, including over how a speech by US President Donald Trump was edited, so the BBC will be a tough ship to steer.
