BBC chief apologises for 'error of judgement' over Trump speech edit
The controversy erupted after allegations that the programme misrepresented US President Donald Trump’s January 6, 2021 speech, implying he had called for violence during the Capitol riots.
BBC Chairperson Samir Shah has apologised for what he called an “error of judgment” in the editing of the Trump documentary, after two top BBC executives, Director General Tim Davie and Chief Executive of News Deborah Turness resigned. The controversy erupted after allegations that the programme misrepresented US President Donald Trump’s January 6, 2021 speech, implying he had called for violence during the Capitol riots. Speaking on Monday, BBC Chair Samir Shah said the broadcaster accepts that the editing of the documentary was wrong.
“The conclusion of that deliberation is that we accept that the way the speech was edited did give the impression of a direct call for violent action. The BBC would like to apologise for that error of judgement,” Shah said.
BBC director general and news CEO resign
BBC Director-General Tim Davie and Head of News Deborah Turness resigned. The BBC has come under criticism for editing a portion of Trump's January 6, 2021, speech delivered before protesters stormed the US Capitol in Washington. Critics argued that the edited version, featured in a BBC documentary, was misleading as it omitted a key section in which Trump urged his supporters to demonstrate "peacefully and patriotically."
A clip of the BBC "Panorama" episode shared by The Daily Telegraph appears to show different parts of Trump's speech edited into one quote. In the episode, Trump is shown saying: "We're going to walk down to the Capitol and I'll be there with you. And we fight. We fight like hell." According to video and a transcript from Trump's comments that day, he said: "we're going to walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women, and we’re probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them.
In a letter to staff, Davie said quitting the job after five years "is entirely my decision." "Overall the BBC is delivering well, but there have been some mistakes made and as director-general I have to take ultimate responsibility," Davie said. He said that he was "working through exact timings with the Board to allow for an orderly transition to a successor over the coming months."
Turness said that the controversy about the Trump documentary "has reached a stage where it is causing damage to the BBC — an institution that I love. As the CEO of BBC News and Current Affairs, the buck stops with me."
"In public life, leaders need to be fully accountable, and that is why I am stepping down," she said in a note to staff. “While mistakes have been made, I want to be absolutely clear recent allegations that BBC News is institutionally biased are wrong."
Trump hits out at BBC
The US President came down heavily on top BBC executives who resigned after reports had emerged of tampering with his speech delivered in 2021. Calling his speech delivered in January 2021, "good" and "perfect", the US President, in a post on Truth Social, called the action "a terrible thing for democracy". He said, "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." These are very dishonest people who tried to step on the scales of a Presidential Election. On top of everything else, they are from a Foreign Country, one that many consider our Number One Ally. What a terrible thing for Democracy!"
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also accused the BBC of spreading "fake news" and called it a "leftist propaganda machine".
Leavitt told The Telegraph: "This purposefully dishonest, selectively edited clip by the BBC is further evidence that they are total, 100 per cent fake news that should no longer be worth the time on the television screens of the great people of the United Kingdom."