BBC director general resigns over Trump documentary edit

LONDON

BBC Director General Tim Davie resigned on Sunday after accusations that a documentary misled viewers by editing a US President Donald Trump's speech.

Along with Davie, the corporation's head of news, Deborah Turness has also resigned over the same issue.

Davie, who had held the job for five years, recently faced increasing pressure over a series of missteps and allegations of bias.

It came after The Telegraph recently published a leaked internal BBC memo that suggested the Panorama program edited two parts of Trump's speech together so he appeared to explicitly encourage the Capitol Hill riots of January 2021.

Announcing his resignation, Davie said: "Like all public organisations, the BBC is not perfect, and we must always be open, transparent and accountable."

Saying that while not being the only reason, the current debate around BBC News "has understandably contributed to 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," he added.

In his speech in Washington, DC on Jan. 6, 2021, Trump said: "We're going to walk down to the Capitol, and we're going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women."

However, in the BBC documentary edit he was 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."

The two sections of the speech that were edited together were more than 50 minutes apart, the BBC reported.

President Donald Trump’s press secretary labeled the BBC a "leftist propaganda machine" and "100% fake news.”