BBC Leadership Resigns Amid “Panorama” Editing Scandal

The head of Britain’s public broadcaster, the BBC, and its chief of news resigned Sunday amid growing outrage over how the broadcaster edited a speech by Donald Trump. The BBC confirmed that Director-General Tim Davie and News & Current Affairs CEO Deborah Turness announced their departures.

At the center of the BBC editing scandal is a documentary from the broadcaster’s flagship current-affairs program, Panorama, which aired a segment of Trump’s January 6, 2021 speech—before the U.S. Capitol attack—that critics say was misleadingly edited. Specifically, the edit spliced portions of Trump’s remarks, omitting a statement where he said he wanted his supporters to protest peacefully, and combined two parts of his speech nearly an hour apart to imply he was inciting violent action.

In a letter to BBC staff, Tim Davie said his decision to leave after five years “is entirely my decision.” He added: “Overall, the BBC is delivering well, but there have been some mistakes made and as director-general I have to take ultimate responsibility.” He noted he will work with the board on an orderly transition.

Turness, in her announcement, stated the controversy around the documentary “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.” She also insisted that, while mistakes were made, “recent allegations that BBC News is institutionally biased are wrong.”

The resignations follow publication of a leaked internal memo compiled by former BBC standards adviser Michael Prescott, which flagged not only the edited Trump speech but also alleged failures in the BBC’s coverage of transgender issues and alleged anti-Israel bias in its Arabic service.

Trump responded via his platform, thanking the Daily Telegraph for exposing the matter, calling the BBC “very dishonest people who tried to step on the scales of a Presidential Election. On top of everything else, they are from a foreign country, one that many consider our number one ally. What a terrible thing for democracy!”

Sources:

• https://apnews.com/article/5f1351093a493c637124d8ea758260b9

• https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/nov/09/tim-davie-expected-to-resign-bbc-director-general

• https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/nov/09/tim-davie-bbc-resignation-statement-deborah-turness

• https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/11/09/bbc-davie-turness-trump-speech/

• https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/britains-bbc-boss-tim-davie-resigns-following-criticism-over-trump-documentary-2025-11-09/

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