BBC News chief declares broadcaster does NOT take sides

Mr Trump is suing the BBC in Florida for defamation for billions of dollars after the documentary spliced together clips of the President, making it appear as if he encouraged his supporters to “fight like hell” at the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Now, Ms Turness has said the decision to resign was her own – and admitted that the documentary was “wasn’t up to our editorial standards”.

“I decided to resign, that was my decision,” Ms Turness told Semafor’s “Trust in Media” summit in Washington DC.

“I was running an organisation of 6,000 journalists that pushes out journalism in 42 languages around the world, and there was a problem with an edit in a Panorama documentary which was a year old.”

“It wasn’t up to our editorial standards, but I don’t accept the charge that it was a sign of institutional bias,” she added, having declared the same last November.

The former exec, who has not yet been replaced as the CEO of BBC News and Current Affairs despite resigning in November, said: “I think that the BBC is the world’s most trusted news brand, because for 104 years it has not taken sides.”

She also dismissed claims the BBC as an institution is broadly anti-Trump.

“I don’t accept the charge that it was a sign of institutional bias,” she said.

She was also asked whether the BBC could survive a “public funding backlash” after the US Government cut funding to public broadcasters PBS and NPR.

| PA

It came after Mr Trump accused both broadcasters of being biased against him and passed an executive order stripping it of its taxpayer funds.

“The BBC is still really valued by the majority of people in the UK,” Ms Turness said.

“It’s so much more than news… it’s knitted into UK society and life,” she argued, pointing to landmark coverage like the Proms, Strictly Come Dancing, and sporting events like the Olympics.

She admitted, however, that an increasing number of people were opting to not pay the BBC licensing fee.

| GETTY

Ms Turness also admitted that BBC newsrooms generally leaned left – and suggested they did not represent the political mood of the country.

“Do I think that the BBC newsrooms would, in percentage terms, vote the same way as the nation right now in the UK, in terms of the Reform Party, which is quite an extreme conservative movement? Do I think that the newsrooms are in lockstep with that rapid, sudden social change?” she asked.

“No, I don’t.”

She went on to note that people were trusting media organisations less, instead opting to follow individual journalists and broadcasters.

She resigned in November alongside former director general Tim Davie in response to the blowback to the BBC Panorama editing scandal.

The BBC is now attempting to defend against its defamation lawsuit by arguing Mr Trump does not have jurisdiction to make the claim in Florida.

The news broadcaster said the edit did not violate Florida’s laws on unfair trading practices, and is seeking to dismiss the motion entirely before it goes to trial, which is currently scheduled for February 15 next year.

|

GETTY

The documentary, titled “Trump: A Second Chance?”, dated to October 2024, and the BBC has argued Floridians did not watch the programme.

The misleading edit was of Trump’s speech on January 6, outside the White House.

At the beginning of the speech, he said: “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women,” and 50 minutes later added: “And we fight. We fight like hell.”

The BBC edited the two quotes together to make it appear as if the President was directly telling the Washington DC crowd to fight.

Regarding the lawsuit, a spokesman for the corporation said: “As we have made clear previously, we will be defending this case.

“We are not going to make further comment on ongoing legal proceedings.”