BBC director-general Tim Davie resigns over Trump documentary controversy

The BBC had been expected to apologise on Monday following concerns about impartiality, including how a speech by US President Donald Trump was edited in an episode of Panorama.

A clip within the programme Trump: A Second Chance?, which was broadcast by the BBC the week before last year’s US election, spliced clips together from sections of the US president’s speech on 6 January 2021 to make it appear he told supporters he was going to walk to the US Capitol with them to “fight like hell”.

It underlined concerns about impartiality within the broadcaster, which has been accused of bias by groups from across the political spectrum.

The Telegraph reported on Tuesday that a memo by Michael Prescott, a former external adviser to the BBC’s editorial standards committee, had raised concerns over impartiality in the summer.

The Culture Secretary told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg: “I have discussed the range of issues that were raised in the email that was leaked to the BBC.

“It isn’t just about the Panorama programme, although that is incredibly serious.

Director-general Tim Davie has resigned from the BBC, the corporation has announced.