BBC director-general Tim Davie and BBC News chief executive Deborah Turness have both resigned amid concerns over the corporation’s impartiality.
The moves come after criticisms about the BBC’s impartiality were raised this week, including reports that an episode of Panorama had selectively edited US President Donald Trump’s speech on the day of the US Capitol attack.
Davie acknowledged there had “been some mistakes made” and said he had to “take ultimate responsibility,” while Turness said the controversy over the Trump edit had “reached a stage where it is causing damage to the BBC – an institution that I love.”
The controversy relates to a memo from Michael Prescott, a former external adviser to the BBC’s editorial standards committee, who raised concerns in the summer over how clips of Trump’s January 6 2021 speech were edited in the episode Trump: A Second Chance?.
Critics said the edits made it appear he had told supporters he was going to walk to the US Capitol with them to “fight like hell”.
The documentary was broadcast by the BBC the week before last year’s US election, which critics have said was misleading and removed a section where Trump said he wanted supporters to demonstrate peacefully.
The BBC is expected to apologise on Monday over the impartiality concerns.
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