Donald Trump has not minced his words as he attacked the BBC over his January 6 speech video,accusing the broadcaster’s chiefs of being ‘corrupt.’
The BBC continues to be under pressure after accusations of editing Donald Trump’s speech shown in a Panorama documentary to make it appear as if the US president incited violence.
The US president took to his Truth Social platform yesterday to criticise the BBC,accusing its top chiefs of ‘doctoring’ his speech on January 6 before the Capitol riot.
Trump said: The TOP people in the BBC,including TIM DAVIE,the BOSS,are all quitting/FIRED,because they were caught “doctoring” my very good (PERFECT!) speech of January 6th.’
Donald Trump has taken aim at the BBC after accusations that a Panorama clip of his speech was altered (Picture: AP)
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Breaking News alerts the moment it happens.In his rambling post,he went on to thank The Telegraph,which reported on an internal BBC memo last week,for ‘exposing these corrupt “journalists.”‘He continued: ‘These are very dishonest people who tried to step on the scales of a Presidential Election. On top of everything else,they are from a Foreign Country,one that many consider our Number One Ally. What a terrible thing for Democracy!Tim Davie,the BBC director general,announced his resignation yesterday evening after five years at the helm,which had seen him face accusations of bias and controversies.
Davie said he takes ‘the ultimate responsibility’ after the controversy (Picture: Reuters)Sunday night also saw the departure of the CEO of News,Deborah Turness.Davie said that as the director general,he has to ‘take the ultimate responsibility,’ while Turness admitted that ‘the buck stops with me.’All eyes are now on the broadcaster’s chair,Samir Shah,who is expected to make a statement and apologise in a letter today.He said yesterday it was a ‘sad day’ for the BBC,while the BBC committee chairwoman,Dame Caroline Dinenage,described Davie’s resignation as ‘regrettable’ but that ‘restoring trust in the corporation must come first.’
Samir Shah,the BBC board’s chair,has been left to mop up the mess following the Trump speech scandal (Picture: Reuters)Dame Caroline claimed Davie ‘ignored’ the issues raised in the editorial report this summer,written by a former external adviser,Michael PrescottShe said Davie was an ‘effective leader’ and a ‘great champion for public service media,’ but that ‘there is no escaping the fact that he was very slow to act on this particular issue.’Dame Caroline continued: ‘But this isn’t the first time and on this particular issue,Michael Prescott’s report,he just didn’t take it seriously until it was too late.‘He should have reacted with concern and examined the claims,but just ignored it.’
Reaction to Tim Davie’s resignation
The Trump video drama has sparked a debate over the broadcaster’s independence,procedures and how the BBC handled the fallout.Kemi Badenoch,the Conservative leader,said the BBC chiefs had ‘finally taken responsibility’ by stepping down,but that a ‘catalogue of serious failures’ was ‘far deeper.’She continued: ‘The new leadership must now deliver genuine reform of the culture of the BBC,top to bottom – because it should not expect the public to keep funding it through a compulsory licence fee unless it can finally demonstrate true impartiality.’Reform UK’s Nigel Farage said: ‘I don’t want to abolish the BBC,I make that very clear,but we cannot have the BBC being seen to be our main national news broadcaster if it cannot perform in a straightforward,simple,unbiased way.’Louise Sandher-Jones,a government minister,rejected the accusations that the BBC is biased,adding that the output ‘is very trusted’ when you look at the ‘huge range’ of issues it has to cover.Meanwhile,a Downing Street communications chief,Sir Craig Oliver,who is also a former BBC news executive,said the corporation’s board has not properly defended it.He told the BBC’s Radio 4 Today programme it has been ‘obvious for days now that the BBC needed to step up,explain,apologise,move on.’Sir Craig added: ‘And what we’ve seen is the governance of the BBC saying,“we’ll get back to you on Monday – we’ll leave that for days. We’ll allow the President of the United States to be attacking the institution,and we’re not going to properly defend it.”‘
