The Director-General (DG) of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Mr Tim Davie, and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of News, Deborah Turness, have resigned following reports that a BBC Panorama documentary misled viewers into believing that US President Donald Trump explicitly encouraged the Capitol Hill riots of January 2021.
“There have been some mistakes made, and as director general, I have to take ultimate responsibility,” Davie said in a statement.
Describing the decision to step down as “difficult,” Turness nevertheless admitted, “the buck stops with me.”
Last week, The Telegraph published a leaked BBC memo suggesting a Panorama documentary edited two parts of Trump’s speech together, so he appeared to encourage the Capitol Hill riots of January 2021 explicitly.
It is understood that the leaked memo came from Mr. Michael Prescott, a former independent external adviser to the broadcaster’s editorial standards committee.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch had described the edits as “absolutely shocking,” adding: “That is fake news, actually putting different things together to make something look different from what it actually was.
“And I do think heads should roll. Whoever it was who did that should be sacked, that’s what Tim Davie should be doing, identifying who put out misinformation and sacking them.”
