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White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt celebrated the resignation of the head of Britain’s publicly-funded broadcaster, the BBC, on Sunday after days of pressure over its coverage of US President Donald Trump.
BBC Director-General Tim Davie and the CEO of News, Deborah Turnes, both announced their exits from the media institution amid backlash over a documentary on Donald Trump.
The resignation came days after torrid headlines for the BBC over an episode of its flagship Panorama documentary show. The broadcaster had been facing allegations of misleading viewers by splicing footage from different portions of US President Donald Trump's remarks on January 6, 2021 -- the day of the Capitol riots.
Leavitt seized on the row in an interview with the
Telegraph newspaper on Friday. She went on to directly accuse the BBC of being “purposefully dishonest” and peddling “total, 100 per cent fake news.” The White House press chief appeared jubilant on Sunday, posting a screenshot of news coverage on Davie's exit.
She shared the post on X, formerly known as Twitter, alongside the caption “Shot: … Chaser.” It is pertinent to note that the British news outlet is bound by its governing charter to avoid “favouring one side over another,” and is no stranger to claims from all political sides in the UK.
However, the latest scandal marked a significant escalation in attacks on the BBC from the right. Last week, the right-leaning Telegraph newspaper published a memo written by Michael Prescott, the broadcaster’s former standards advisor, covering a range of alleged failings in its content. This included BBC's coverage on transgender issues, the Gaza war and Trump's presidency.
One of the most eye-catching accusations against the British broadcaster was that the footage in the Panorama show had been selectively edited to suggest the US President had told supporters in January 2021: “We’re going to walk down to the
Capitol and I’ll be there with you, and we'll fight. We fight like hell.”
The words of the Republican firebrand were, in fact, spliced from sections of the speech almost an hour apart, and omitted a section in which Trump had said he wanted supporters “to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.”
In his statement issued on Sunday night, Davie acknowledged that there had been “some mistakes made and as Director-General I have to take ultimate responsibility.” He added that the decision to leave the broadcaster after 20 years of service — including five in its most senior post — was “entirely my decision.”
“I am working through exact timings with the board to allow for an orderly transition to a successor over the coming months,” he averred. Meanwhile, Turness, the broadcaster’s most senior news executive, directly referenced the Trump row in her own statement, saying the “ongoing controversy” around the Panorama episode had “reached a stage where it is causing damage to the BBC – an institution that I love.” “As the CEO of BBC News and Current Affairs, the buck stops with me – and I took the decision to offer my resignation to the Director-General last night,” she added.
The resignation came days after torrid headlines for the BBC over an episode of its flagship Panorama documentary show. The broadcaster had been facing allegations of misleading viewers by splicing footage from different portions of US President Donald Trump's remarks on January 6, 2021 -- the day of the Capitol riots.
Leavitt seized on the row in an interview with the
She shared the post on X, formerly known as Twitter, alongside the caption “Shot: … Chaser.” It is pertinent to note that the British news outlet is bound by its governing charter to avoid “favouring one side over another,” and is no stranger to claims from all political sides in the UK.
Shot: Chaser: pic.twitter.com/n0U08PnUJb
— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) November 9, 2025
How the last row rocked the BBC
However, the latest scandal marked a significant escalation in attacks on the BBC from the right. Last week, the right-leaning Telegraph newspaper published a memo written by Michael Prescott, the broadcaster’s former standards advisor, covering a range of alleged failings in its content. This included BBC's coverage on transgender issues, the Gaza war and Trump's presidency.
One of the most eye-catching accusations against the British broadcaster was that the footage in the Panorama show had been selectively edited to suggest the US President had told supporters in January 2021: “We’re going to walk down to the
The words of the Republican firebrand were, in fact, spliced from sections of the speech almost an hour apart, and omitted a section in which Trump had said he wanted supporters “to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.”
In his statement issued on Sunday night, Davie acknowledged that there had been “some mistakes made and as Director-General I have to take ultimate responsibility.” He added that the decision to leave the broadcaster after 20 years of service — including five in its most senior post — was “entirely my decision.”
“I am working through exact timings with the board to allow for an orderly transition to a successor over the coming months,” he averred. Meanwhile, Turness, the broadcaster’s most senior news executive, directly referenced the Trump row in her own statement, saying the “ongoing controversy” around the Panorama episode had “reached a stage where it is causing damage to the BBC – an institution that I love.” “As the CEO of BBC News and Current Affairs, the buck stops with me – and I took the decision to offer my resignation to the Director-General last night,” she added.
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