bbc

The head of the BBC and its director general of news resigned on Sunday following criticism of the broadcaster’s editing of a speech by President Trump.

The BBC said director general Tim Davie and head of news Deborah Turness announced their resignations on Sunday.

The British public broadcaster has been criticized for the way it edited a speech Trump gave on January 6, 2021, before rioters attacked the Capitol in Washington.

Parts of the speech were included in a documentary on his prominent Panorama program and critics said they had been misleadingly edited, omitting a section in which Trump said he wanted his supporters to demonstrate peacefully.

In a letter to staff, Davie said leaving the job after five years “is entirely my decision.”

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

He said he was “working on exact timing with the Board to allow for an orderly transition to a successor in the coming months.”

Turness said the controversy over Trump’s documentary “has reached a point where it is causing damage to the BBC, an institution I love. As chief executive of BBC News and Current Affairs, the responsibility is mine.”

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

In a post on Truth Social on Sunday, Trump thanked the Telegraph for “exposing these corrupt ‘journalists’.”

“These are very dishonest people who tried to get on the scale of a presidential election. On top of everything, they are from a foreign country, one that many consider our number one ally. What a terrible thing for democracy!” said.

Pressure on the broadcaster’s senior executives has increased since the British newspaper Daily Telegraph published parts of a dossier compiled by Michael Prescott, who had been hired to advise the BBC on standards and guidelines.

In addition to the Trump edit, the dossier criticized the BBC’s coverage of transgender issues and raised concerns about alleged anti-Israel bias in the BBC’s Arabic service.

Lisa Nandy, UK culture secretary, thanked Davie “for his service to public broadcasting over the years”.

“He has led the BBC through a period of significant change and has helped the organization address the challenges it has faced in recent years,” he said in a statement on

The BBC faces greater scrutiny than other broadcasters – and criticism from commercial rivals – because of its status as a national institution funded by an annual license fee of £174.50 ($230) paid by every household that owns a television.

It is also bound by the terms of its charter to be impartial in its output, and critics are quick to point out when they believe it has failed.