Media: Charged with bias, “anti-Trump” BBC’s D-G, Head of News quit
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Tim Davie, Director-General of British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), and Deborah Turness, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of BBC News, have resigned after criticism over bias at the corporation, including in the way it edited a speech by US President Donald Trump, the media reported on Monday.
The public broadcaster was under mounting pressure after an internal report by a former standards adviser was leaked to the Daily Telegraph newspaper, which cited failings in its coverage of the Israel-Hamas war, transgender issues, and a Trump speech.
The White House had recently denounced the public BBC as a “propaganda machine” after its flagship Panorama programme was found to have edited two parts of Trump’s speech together so he appeared to encourage the Capitol Hill riots of January 2021.
Tim Davie, who has led the BBC since 2020, said he decided to leave after “reflecting on the very intense personal and professional demands of managing this role over many years in these febrile times”.
Deborah Turness also resigned.
The BBC has, in recent years, been accused of failing to maintain its commitment to impartial news, struggling to navigate the deeply polarised political and social environment.
The leaked internal report said BBC Arabic had shown anti-Israel bias in its reporting of the war in Gaza and that stories that raised difficult questions around trans issues had been suppressed by a small group of staff, the reports said.
The public broadcasting corporation, which is funded by a licence fee paid by all television-watching households, comes under intense scrutiny from some national newspapers and critics on social media, who object to its funding model and perceived liberal stance.
In recent years, it has also struggled to contain scandals over the opinion on immigration of its most highly paid sports presenter, Gary Lineker, which briefly led to a walk-out by staff, and it was condemned for showing punk-rap duo Bob Vylan chanting against the Israeli military at Glastonbury.
It also pulled a documentary about Gaza earlier this year because it featured the son of a Deputy Minister in the Hamas-run government.
In the Panorama documentary broadcast last year, Trump, the Republican candidate, was shown telling his supporters that “we’re going to walk down to the Capitol” and that they would “fight like hell”, a comment he made in a different part of his speech.
He had actually said they would “cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women”.
Trump’s press secretary Karoline Leavitt described the BBC as “100% fake news” in an interview published on November 7.
British Culture Minister Lisa Nandy thanked Davie for his work as the D-G, saying he had led the broadcaster through a period of significant change.
Davie said in “these increasingly polarised times” the BBC was of unique value, helping to build a healthy society and thriving creative sector, arguing it should be championed not weaponised.
But he said it was not perfect, and while the recent scandal was not the only reason for his departure, it had been a factor, and he had to take ultimate responsibility.
The BBC, which has to negotiate a new charter with the government in 2027 to guarantee its future finances, had appeared to struggle to respond to the recent run of negative headlines.
Turness said in an email to staff that while mistakes had been made, “I want to be absolutely clear, recent allegations that BBC News is institutionally biased are wrong.”
