Why did Tim Davie resign and what was the editing of the Trump documentary?

The BBC’s director general, Tim Davie, and his head of news, Deborah Turness, have resigned.

The BBC had been criticized over a Panorama documentary accused of misleadingly editing a speech by Donald Trump to make it appear he was urging people to attack the US Capitol.

In emails to staff, both Davie and Turness said mistakes had been made.

David David He was appointed director general of the BBC in September 2020. He was responsible for overseeing the corporation’s services and was its editorial, operational and creative leader.

He was not a new figure for the BBC; Before becoming CEO, he had been CEO of BBC Studios for seven years.

Before joining the BBC, Davie worked for organizations including Procter and Gamble and PepsiCo.

Deborah Turness He had been the chief executive of BBC News since 2022, overseeing BBC News and current affairs programmes.

In his role, he was responsible for a team of around 6,000 people, broadcasting to almost 500 million people around the world in more than 40 languages.

She was previously CEO of ITN and president of NBC News since 2013.

Their departures come after controversy over a Panorama documentary called Trump: A Second Chance?, which aired last year.

In his statement, Turness said: “The current controversy surrounding President Trump’s Panorama has reached a point where it is causing harm to the BBC, an institution I love.”

“As director-general of BBC News and Current Affairs, the responsibility falls on me, and last night I made the decision to offer my resignation to the director-general.”

He added: “While mistakes have been made, I want to make it absolutely clear that recent allegations that BBC News has institutional bias are wrong.”

Davie did not mention the Panorama documentary in his statement, although he said: “While not the only reason, the current debate around BBC News has understandably contributed to my decision.

“Overall the BBC is doing well, but some mistakes have been made and as director general I have to take ultimate responsibility.”

Last week, the Daily Telegraph published an exclusive report, saying it had seen a leaked internal BBC memo.

The memo came from Michael Prescott, a former independent outside adviser to the broadcaster’s editorial standards committee. He left office in June.

The memo suggested that the hour-long Panorama documentary had edited parts of Trump’s speech to make it appear to explicitly encourage the January 2021 Capitol riots.

In his speech in Washington DC on January 6, 2021, Trump said: “We are going to walk to the Capitol and we will cheer on our brave senators, congressmen and congresswomen.”

However, in the Panorama issue he was shown saying, “We’re going to walk to the Capitol… and I’ll be there with you. And we fight. We fight like hell.”

The two sections of the speech that were edited together were more than 50 minutes apart.

The “fight like hell” comment was taken from a section where Trump discussed how “corrupt” the US election was. In total, he used the words “fight” or “fight” 20 times in the speech.

According to the Telegraph, the document said Panorama’s “distortion of the day’s events” would leave viewers wondering: “Why should the BBC be trusted and where will it all end?”

When the issue was raised with management, the memo continues, “they refused to accept that a violation of the rules had occurred.”

The BBC has come under scrutiny over a number of other different issues in recent weeks.

The Telegraph also reported that Prescott expressed concern about the lack of action to address the “systemic problems” of anti-Israel bias in the BBC Arabic news service’s coverage of the Gaza war.

The report also said Prescott had raised concerns about the BBC’s coverage of trans issues.

And on Thursday, the BBC upheld 20 impartiality complaints about the way presenter Martine Croxall earlier this year altered a script she was reading live on the BBC News channel, which referred to “pregnant people”.

Tim Davie has weathered many scandals and crises during his five years at the helm of the BBC, including the Gary Lineker furore, Bob Vylan at Glastonbury, the documentary Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone and the transgressions of a series of high-profile presenters.

Some media outlets nicknamed Davie “Teflon Tim” because nothing seemed to work.

He had also tried to weather the latest controversy, but it has gathered steam and the BBC was expected to apologize tomorrow for the Panorama documentary.

This comes at a delicate time for the BBC, as the government sets to review the corporation’s Royal Charter, which essentially gives it the right to exist, before the current mandate expires in 2027.

In his statement, Davie said: “You’re wondering why now, why right now?”

He said it was “the BBC through and through”, he cares deeply about the corporation and wants it to succeed.

“That is why I want to create the best conditions and space for a new Director General to come in and positively shape the next Royal Charter. I hope that as we move forward, a sensible, calm and rational public conversation about the next chapter of the BBC can take place.”

He added: “This moment allows a new CEO to help shape the next Charter. I believe we are in a strong position to generate growth.”

The Director General is appointed by the BBC Board, which is responsible for ensuring that it delivers on the corporation’s mission and public purposes.

The BBC board is led by chairman Samir Shah and is one of 10 non-executive members, in addition to four executive members, including the director general.

When Tim Davie was appointed in 2020, the process of choosing who would get the role was led by the BBC Board’s nominations committee.

The appointment of the Director General is made under the terms of the BBC Statutes.