BBC top executives resign over Trump speech editing controversy: 'Some mistakes made'

LONDON, ENGLAND: Two of the BBC’s top executives, Director General Tim Davie and BBC News CEO Deborah Turness, have resigned following revelations that the network’s flagship investigative program, 'Panorama', allegedly "doctored" footage of a Donald Trump speech.

Turness stepped down on Saturday, November 8, and Davie announced his resignation on Sunday, less than a week after The Telegraph alleged that editors for 'Panorama's' October 2024 special, 'Trump: A Second Chance?', had manipulated the sequence of Trump’s 2021 speech.

The documentary allegedly spliced together separate lines to suggest that Trump urged supporters to “fight” before the riot began.

Top leadership admits ‘some mistakes made’

In his resignation statement, Tim Davie said that the decision to step down after 20 years at the broadcaster was his alone, though he acknowledged errors under his leadership.

“There have been some mistakes made, and as Director General, I have to take ultimate responsibility,” he said.

Davie did not mention the 'Panorama' controversy directly but thanked the BBC’s board for its “unswerving and unanimous support.” 

Turness, who led BBC News since 2022, was more explicit about her decision, saying in her resignation statement, "The ongoing controversy around the 'Panorama' on President Trump has reached a stage where it is causing damage to the BBC, an institution that I love."

Turness said that she did not believe the report proved “institutional bias” at the BBC but accepted responsibility for the fallout. 

“The buck stops with me,” she added.

BBC editing allegedly misrepresented Trump’s words

According to The Telegraph, Panorama’s producers allegedly rearranged Trump’s words to make it appear that he had urged supporters to “fight like hell” before the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.

The full, unedited speech, however, reportedly included a call to “peacefully and patriotically” make voices heard, a line omitted from the broadcast.

An internal review by former media adviser Michael Prescott, obtained by The Telegraph, reportedly concluded that 'Panorama' had “spliced together two clips from separate parts of the speech,” creating a false impression that Donald Trump had encouraged violence.

“This created the impression that Trump said something he did not and, in doing so, materially misled viewers,” Prescott claimed in the leaked memo.

The review also said that the program used footage of flag-waving crowds filmed before Trump began speaking, seemingly implying that his words immediately provoked aggression.