Two senior BBC executives: Director-General Tim Davie and BBC News Chief Executive Deborah Turness have resigned after a report claimed that the broadcaster had misleadingly edited a speech by former US President Donald Trump in a documentary. The controversy began after The Daily Telegraph reported that a BBC documentary, Trump: A Second Chance?, edited Trump’s speech in a way that made it appear as though he had directly encouraged the January 6 Capitol riot.

According to the report, an internal memo written by Michael Prescott, a former adviser to the BBC’s editorial standards committee, raised concerns about the edit. Prescott said that the documentary had combined two parts of Trump’s speech that were made about 50 minutes apart. The edit allegedly made it seem like Trump had told his supporters to walk to the Capitol and “fight like hell,” when in reality, the original speech showed him saying, “We’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women.”

After the report, BBC Director-General Tim Davie announced his resignation, saying that while the BBC was performing well overall, recent debates about its editorial standards had influenced his decision. He added that as the head of the organisation, he must take full responsibility for its mistakes.

The controversy has drawn sharp criticism from the White House and other political figures. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt accused the BBC of being “purposefully dishonest,” while Donald Trump said that “corrupt journalists” had been exposed. UK Culture, Media and Sport Minister Lisa Nandy called the allegations “incredibly serious,” saying that they raised broader concerns about bias in the BBC’s reporting on sensitive issues such as transgender rights, Israel-Gaza, and US politics.

This is not the first time the BBC has faced scrutiny over its reporting. Earlier this year, it apologised for errors in its documentary Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone. In October, it was also sanctioned by the UK media regulator for airing a misleading programme involving a child narrator who turned out to be the son of a Hamas official.

With around 21,000 employees, the BBC remains one of the world’s largest public broadcasters, funded mainly through a licence fee paid by UK households. However, these recent incidents have raised questions about its credibility, transparency, and commitment to fair reporting.