The director-general of the BBC has resigned Sunday amid scandal after the British state broadcaster shared doctored footage of President Trump speaking on Jan. 6.
Tim Davie, who has headed up the publicly-funded media outlet for five years, said he was taking “ultimate responsibility” for recent “mistakes” made in a statement published by the BBC.
The head of the BBC resigned Sunday after the broadcaster shared doctored footage of President Trump speaking on Jan. 6. Bloomberg via Getty Images
Tim Davie has been head of the outlet for 5 years. PA Images via Getty Images“Like all public organisations, the BBC is not perfect, and we must always be open, transparent and accountable. While not being the only reason, the current debate around BBC News has understandably contributed to my decision,” Davie said in the statement, which did not mention President Trump by name.
“Overall the BBC is delivering well, but there have been some mistakes made and as Director-General I have to take ultimate responsibility,” he added.
Here’s the latest on the BBC’s edited Trump speech controversy
- Disgraced BBC boss says he’s ‘very proud’ of journalism while quitting over outrageous Trump lies
- BBC’s Trump deception is a stain on Britain — and just one bit of its bias
- BBC head resigns over doctored footage of Trump’s Jan. 6 speech in documentary
- https://nypost.com/2025/11/03/us-news/bbc-materially-misled-viewers-by-deceptively-editing-trump-jan-6-speech-for-documentary-whistleblower/Trump threatens BBC with $1B lawsuit over doctored Jan. 6 speech footage as chair admits ‘error of judgement’
His resignation and that of the CEO of BBC News, Deborah Turness, come after it was revealed that the BBC’s flagship news program, “Panorama,” spliced together two clips of Trump speaking on Jan. 6, 2021, implying that he had directly told his supporters to storm the Capitol.
The program, which aired a week before the 2024 presidential election, “completely misled” viewers by showing Trump telling supporters he was going to walk with them to the capital and “fight like hell,” according to an internal whistleblowing memo shared with British newspaper the Telegraph on Monday.
President Trump’s full quote was that he would walk with supporters “to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.” But the BBC’s segment made the president “‘Say’ things [he] never actually said,” by editing together footage from the start of the speech with a separate quote nearly an hour later, according to the leaked dossier.
CEO of BBC News, Deborah Turness, has also resigned. PA Images via Getty ImagesSenior executives at the BBC, along with the broadcaster’s chairman, ignored and dismissed a series of serious internal complaints, according to the 19-page memo.
This isn’t the first time Davie has faced crises over editorial failings and perceived bias.The BBC has been accused of failing to provide unbiased coverage of both the war in Gaza and trans issues in the past week alone.
