BBC director general Tim Davie and head of news Deborah Turness resigned Sunday after a leaked internal memo exposed how a Panorama documentary spliced Donald Trump’s January 2021 speech to falsely suggest he incited the Capitol riot.
The unprecedented double departure follows revelations that editors stitched together two segments of the US president’s address—separated by over 50 minutes—to create the misleading impression.
In the original Washington speech on 6 January 2021, Trump told supporters: “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women.”
The Panorama version, however, showed him declaring: “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol… and I’ll be there with you. And we fight. We fight like hell.”
The manipulation was detailed in a memo by Michael Prescott, a former external adviser to the BBC’s editorial standards committee, who stepped down in June.
Trump hailed the resignations on Sunday, posting that BBC executives were quitting or being sacked “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!”
BBC chairman Samir Shah called it a “sad day for the BBC”, insisting Davie “had the full support of me and the [BBC] board throughout” his five-year tenure.
“However, I understand the continued pressure on him, personally and professionally, which has led him to take this decision today,” Shah added. “The whole board respects the decision and the reasons for it.”
The White House branded the broadcaster “100% fake news” after the memo surfaced in The Telegraph on Monday.
UK political figures voiced hope the shake-up would restore trust in the embattled public service, already reeling from bias allegations.
Shah is due to issue a written apology to a parliamentary committee on Monday over the editing scandal.
