BBC chair issues apology over ‘error of judgement’ in editing Trump speech

"The BBC would like to apologise for that error of judgement."

The national broadcaster faced pressure after being accused of editing Donald Trump's speech shown in a Panorama documentary, making it seem as if the US President incited violence.

Tim Davie, the BBC’s director general, announced his resignation yesterday evening after five years in the role. During that time, he faced multiple accusations of bias and several controversies.

Sunday evening also saw the resignation of BBC News CEO Deborah Turness.

Davie said that, as director general, he must 'take the ultimate responsibility,' while Turness acknowledged that 'the buck stops with me.'

In a letter to the Culture, Media and Sport Committee of MPs, Shah apologised for the 'error of judgement'.

"Since the publication of Prescott's memo, this issue has led to over 500 complaints," Shah said.

"These are now being dealt with in the normal way. It has also prompted further reflection by the BBC.

"The conclusion of that deliberation is that we accept that the way the speech was edited did give the impression of a direct call for violent action.

"The BBC would like to apologise for that error of judgement."

Shah's letter also acknowledged how Prescott's memo implies he "uncovered" a list of stories the BBC looked to "bury", and Shah disputed these claims.

"That interpretation is simply not true," he wrote.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt accused the BBC of being "100% fake news"

Donald Trump released a statement after the resignations and following the controversy over editing one of his speeches featured in an episode of The BBC's Panorama documentary series about the 2021 US Capitol Hill riots.

This comes in the wake of White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt accusing the BBC of being "purposefully dishonest" and using "selectively edited" footage in its film.

In an interview with the Telegraph, Leavitt described the BBC as "100% fake news".

She added that watching BBC bulletins on trips to the UK "ruins" her day and claimed taxpayers are being "forced to foot the bill for a leftist propaganda machine".

Trump has reacted to the news with a statement on his social media platform Truth Social.

He wrote: "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.

"Thank you to The Telegraph for exposing these Corrupt 'Journalists.'

"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!"

The Telegraph claim to have seen a leaked document that suggested an episode of BBC's Panorama programme "completely misled" viewers being splicing two parts of the speech together.

The leaked extract of the memo reads: “It was completely misleading to edit the clip in the way Panorama aired it. The fact that he did not explicitly exhort supporters to go down and fight at Capitol Hill was one of the reasons there were no federal charges for incitement to riot.”

Davie took the role in 2020, replacing Tony Hall.