LONDON — sudden resignation two main bosses on the BBC The editing of US President Donald Trump's speech deals a huge blow to a broadcaster revered by some in the UK as a national treasure but derided by others as outdated and left-wing.
The century-old government-funded BBC came under fire after its flagship TV news program spliced together portions of Trump's speech on January 6, 2021, so that it appeared he was openly urging his supporters to march on Capitol Hill and “fight like hell.”
The BBC chairman apologized on Monday for an “error in judgement”. Letter from Trump's lawyer threatened legal actiondemanding that the television network “renounce false, defamatory, derogatory and inflammatory statements” and compensate the president for the harm caused.
Critics say the episode is just the latest example of bias on the part of the BBC, but supporters say it is one of the most trusted sources of news in the UK and around the world and that the departure of its most senior executives poses a challenge to the public service broadcaster.
“This is an existential crisis for the BBC,” said Julie Posetti, professor of journalism at St George's University, London. “By capitulating so quickly, they sent a signal that the BBC was relatively easy to intimidate.”
This is “incredibly dangerous” in an increasingly polarized environment “where the information ecosystem is incredibly polluted,” she warned.
A look at the scandal, past criticism of the BBC and uncertainty about its future:
The furore comes days after the right-wing Daily Telegraph last week published details of an internal memo written by the BBC's former external editorial standards adviser.
The memo raised concerns about how the BBC documentary program Panorama edited Trump's speech.
The program, which aired days before the 2024 US election as Trump was seeking a second term, combined three quotes from two sections of the speech delivered nearly an hour apart into one quote in which Trump urged his supporters to march with him and “fight like hell.”
Among the parts that were cut was a passage in which Trump said he wanted supporters to demonstrate peacefully.
BBC director general Tim Davie and head of news Deborah Turness resigned on Sunday.
The chairman of the television company, Samir Shah, admitted that the installation gave “the impression of a direct call for violent action.” On Monday, Turness said mistakes had been made but insisted there was “no institutional bias” at the BBC – a position supported by Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
The memo also criticized the BBC's coverage of transgender issues, alleged that the broadcaster's reporters were promoting a pro-transgender agenda, and warned of anti-Israel bias in the BBC Arabic service.
In response to the resignation on Sunday, White House press secretary Caroline Leavitt posted a screenshot of the article under the headline “Trump goes to war on BBC 'fake news'.” Trump himself wrote on social media that BBC journalists were “corrupt” and “dishonest” and were “trying to weigh in on the presidential election scale.”
Critics have long accused the broadcaster of left-wing bias, although some have also accused it of being too cautious when challenging successive Conservative Party governments. On Monday, the far-right leader of the UK Reform Party, Nigel Faragetold a press conference that the BBC had been “institutionally biased for decades”, drawing loud applause from supporters.
In recent months, the corporation has come under constant criticism from all sides for its coverage of the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, including its live broadcast the rap duo's chant of “death to the IDF” (Israel Defense Forces) at this year's Glastonbury Festival. I also had to remove documentary about Gaza from its streaming service after it was revealed that the child narrator was the son of a Hamas official.
Charles Moore, former editor of the Daily Telegraph, said the BBC has a persistent bias, “always taking a sort of metropolitan, left-wing stance” on transgender issues, as well as in its coverage of race, Trump, Israel and the Gaza Strip.
“I’m certainly not saying it has to be right,” Moore said. “I say it must take impartiality seriously and hire people capable of running this gigantic and complacent bureaucracy.”
Posetti disagreed and said the BBC, like many other news outlets, was under attack from right-wing voices and the Trump administration.
She acknowledged editing errors but said it was wrong to call the broadcaster fake news “when it clearly isn't.”
“I’m not saying there weren’t mistakes, but I think those mistakes should have been addressed head-on, clearly, transparently and in a very timely manner.” Instead, she said, the resignations would have a “destabilizing effect.”
Trump's threats to sue BBC editing are reminiscent of similar legal disputes between the president and several US news organizations.
In July, Paramount, which owns CBS, agreed to pay $16 million to settle the dispute. lawsuit filed by Trump regarding ” 60 minutes” interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris. Trump claimed the interview was edited to make Harris, the Democratic nominee for president in 2024, sound better.
ABC News said last year it would pay $15 million settle a libel suit above the anchor George Stephanopoulos ' inaccurate on-air claim that the president-elect was facing civil liability for raping a writer E. Jean Carroll.
The BBC is funded by an annual television license fee of £174.50 ($230), which is paid by all households with a television.
By the terms of its charter, a corporation is required to be impartial and independent. It is not a state broadcaster under the UK government. According to Posetti, her model inspired the CBC in Canada, the ABC in Australia and other government-funded media outlets.
At the BBC she was affectionately (or derisively) nicknamed “Auntie”. started in the 1920s and changed the history of television when many Britons bought a television specifically to watch the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. It continues to devote more time and resources than other media outlets to events such as the death of the monarch in 2022.
Outside the UK, the BBC World Service operates in over 40 languages and is one of the UK's most significant cultural exports. Beyond news, it maintains a huge audience around the world with popular entertainment shows including Doctor Who, Traitors, Strictly Come Dancing and its spin-offs.
Ahead of its charter renewal in the next few years, many critics are questioning whether the license fee model is viable at a time when viewers turn to streaming rivals YouTube and social media. The BBC has lost millions of pounds as more households have stopped paying their fees in recent years.
“This is the BBC's last chance,” Farage said. “If the BBC doesn't get its act together now… then I think in the next couple of years you'll see many, many millions simply refusing, simply not wanting to receive the license fee.”
