The BBC’s chair has apologised for an “error of judgment” in the way a Panorama documentary portrayed a speech by Donald Trump, after criticism of the edit forced the resignation of two of its most senior executives,
The Guardian reports.
Samir Shah said the BBC had mishandled an internal review of the matter but defended the corporation against claims it had buried stories or done nothing to address claims of bias, which he said were “simply not true”.
In a letter to Caroline Dinenage, the chair of the culture and media select committee, Shah wrote that the BBC had received more than 500 complaints since the matter was highlighted in a critical memo by a former adviser.
He wrote he was “absolutely clear that the BBC must champion impartiality” and added: “We accept that the way the speech was edited did give the impression of a direct call for violent action.”
Shah’s letter was published on Monday, hours after the BBC’s director-general, Tim Davie, and its head of news, Deborah Turness, quit over the scandal, which attracted Trump’s attention and sparked fears of recriminations against BBC journalists in the US. Trump wrote to the BBC on Monday threatening legal action. A BBC spokesperson said: “We will review the letter and respond directly in due course.”
The resignations of two of the BBC’s most senior figures followed days of criticism from the White House and rightwing commentators in the UK prompted by claims in a leaked memo published by the Daily Telegraph.
Trump and his press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, publicly celebrated the resignations of Davie and Turness. Turness said she “stepped down over the weekend because the buck stops with me”, but stressed that “BBC News is not institutionally biased”.
In response to the crisis, Keir Starmer’s spokesperson said No 10 believed the BBC was neither corrupt nor institutionally biased but that it was right senior leaders had taken responsibility for mistakes.
“We support a strong, independent BBC, and in an age of disinformation, the argument for a robust, impartial British news service is stronger than ever, but it’s important that trust is maintained and that errors are corrected,” the spokesperson said.
