BBC staff clash with board over Trump speech controversy
The broadcaster announced on Sunday that Director General Tim Davie and CEO Deborah Turness would step down after it emerged that two clips of Donald Trump’s January 6, 2021, Capitol speech had been spliced together, despite being delivered nearly an hour apart.
Trump has threatened to sue the BBC for $1 billion unless it issues a “full and fair retraction” of the program by Friday, according to the broadcaster.
In a letter to Parliament on Monday, BBC board chair Samir Shah acknowledged that “the way the speech was edited did give the impression of a direct call for violent action.”
Media insiders reported that the controversy has triggered what some describe as a “civil war” within the BBC, with the “woke pro-trans staff” reportedly rebelling against the board for admitting the mistake. One unnamed television personality told media outlets they were surprised that Davie and Turness had not been removed earlier, given the series of scandals under their leadership.
The insider reportedly suggested that the broadcaster has increasingly leaned toward a “woke” editorial approach, “captured by a minority ideology,” including perceived one-sided coverage of transgender issues and the Gaza conflict. According to the source, both executives “failed” to uphold impartiality.
Recent incidents cited include the censure of veteran presenter Martine Croxall, who, while reading live news earlier this year, adjusted the term “pregnant people” to “women” and raised her eyebrows, which the BBC said gave “the strong impression of expressing a personal view on a controversial matter.”
Additionally, the broadcaster was found last month to have violated journalistic code by failing to disclose that a segment of a Gaza documentary released earlier in the year was narrated by the son of a Hamas official.
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