Former BBC head speaks out after stepping down over Trump speech edits
President Donald Trump is taking a victory lap after two of the BBC’s top bosses stepped down over how the network edited his Jan. 6 speech. Now, one of those leaders is speaking out.
In a Truth Social post Sunday night, Trump wrote, “The TOP people in the BBC, including TIM DAVIE, the BOSS, are all quitting/FIRED, because they were caught ‘doctoring’ my very good (PERFECT!) speech of January 6th. Thank you to The Telegraph for exposing these Corrupt ‘Journalists.'”
Hours earlier, the BBC confirmed both Director-General Tim Davie and News Chief Deborah Turness had resigned.
It centers on a BBC Panorama documentary that spliced together parts of Trump’s 2021 address, leaving out the line where he said supporters should “peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.” However, the version that aired kept the phrase “fight like hell,” making it sound as if he were urging violence.
Pressure exploded after Britain’s Telegraph newspaper published details of a leaked internal dossier criticizing the BBC’s editorial standards, including the Trump edit, and accusing the network of broad bias issues.
In letters to staff, Davie said the decision was his. He said “mistakes were made” and he had to take responsibility.
Turness called the uproar “damaging” to an institution she loves, saying simply “the buck stops with me.”
She at one time had been the head of NBC News.
Reporters asked her Monday morning whether she thinks reporters and journalists are institutionally corrupt.
“Of course our journalists aren’t corrupt,” Turness said. “Our journalists are hard working people who strive for impartiality and I will stand by their journalism.”
She added, “There is no institutional bias [at the BBC]. Mistakes are made, but there’s no institutional biases.”
“Why weren’t the mistakes dealt with on Trump, on anti-semitism, on women’s rights?” a reporter asked.
Turness responded, “I’m sure that story will emerge, but for now I’m going to go in and see our teams.”
The resignations mark one of the biggest leadership shakeups in BBC history and a major test of trust in Britain’s public broadcaster.
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
