Topic
Politics UK US

BBC boss resigns over edit

3m

BBC director-general Tim Davie resigned amid fallout over a Panorama documentary’s misleading edit of Donald Trump’s January 6 speech after Trump threatened a $1bn lawsuit.

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The antidemocratic liars, Trump & Musk, are pursuing their war on truth.
Having broken the integrity of the chief US networks they now attack BBC & Wikipedia.
The US & UK need to alter their libel laws to restore free media, but that is unlikely.
How can truth be defended?
November 11, 2025 at 2:28 PM
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Reposted by Patrick Dunleavy

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In Metro U.K.’s biggest circulation paper main comment by Bill Curtis who writes: “Mr Farage and his ilk don’t want a “fair BBC”. They want a dead one.
“They want a privatised hollowed-out broadcaster run by hedge funds and headlines.” Compare This young journalist with most of commentariat
November 11, 2025 at 2:08 PM

Reposted by Patrick Dunleavy

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Reposted by Gary Sheffield

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Russia has joined the attack on the BBC. It's becoming clear that what is happening is not a criticism of a mistake by the BBC, but an international fascist attack on British democracy. You only have to see the extraordinary number of trolls unleashed on X to know that's what is happening.
November 11, 2025 at 2:00 PM

Reposted by Marko Attila Hoare

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The Guardian
Tim Davie tells BBC staff ‘we have to fight for our journalism’ but does not address Trump’s $1bn lawsuit threat – live

Outgoing director general says freedom of press under pressure and that he sees ‘weaponisation’ Here is a round-up of what various lawyers and commentators have been saying about Donald Trump’s legal case against the BBC. Joshua Rozenberg , the legal commentator and a former BBC journalist, has said in a post on his A Lawyer Writes Substack that the corporation should settle. He explains: Given what Brito is claiming, the lawyer is unlikely to be impressed with the BBC’s assertion that “the purpose of editing the clip was to convey the message of the speech made by President Trump so that Panorama’s audience could better understand how it had been received by President Trump’s supporters and what was happening on the ground at that time”. So the BBC would be well advised to draft a retraction and apology in terms that the president’s lawyer finds acceptable. Brito is also calling for this to be broadcast as prominently as the original programme. And the corporation will have to pay compensation. George Peretz KC , chair of the Society of Labour Lawyers, says on Bluesky , commenting on Rozenberg’s blog, that the BBC might be better off with a more robust approach. So at the moment, despite @joshuarozenberg. bsky. social’s piece, I wonder whether a better BBC response would be the Arkell v Pressdram one. proftomcrick. com/2014/04/29/a. . . (At least to the extent he’s seeking more than a formal apology limited to the obvious mistake and a very modest offer of compensation. ) There is, after all, the risk of a dangerous precedent here. The BBC will often offend foreign leaders - some worse than Trump. Sometimes it will make factual mistakes in reporting on them. Yield to Trump now, and who next? Mark Stephens , a media lawyer, told BBC Breakfast that a court case could reflect badly on Trump. He said : Every damning quote that he’s ever uttered is going to be played back to him and picked over - not great PR. Trump risks turning what’s currently a PR skirmish with the BBC very much on the back foot into a global headline that the court finds Trump’s words were incendiary. . . George Freeman , executive director of the Media Law Resource Center in New York and a former lawyer for the New York Times, told the BBC that Trump “has a long record of unsuccessful libel suits - and an even longer record of letters like the one you received that don’t end up as lawsuits at all”. Christopher Steele , the former MI6 officer who is trying to recover costs from Trump after the president sued him unsuccessfully in the UK, says Trump’s latest threat is preposterous. Donald Trump’s threat to sue the BBC in London is preposterous. He remains in breach of English High Court orders in a case he brought and lost against Orbis 18 months ago. So any further abuse of the UK courts by him for such legal tourism and intimidation should be prohibited. Robert Peston , ITV’s political editor, says the BBC has been told Trump does not have a case. The legal advice to the BBC I am told is that President Trump was not meaningfully damaged by Panorama’s manipulation of his 6 January speech, and that therefore there is no legal necessity to pay him compensation. The BBC board is therefore likely to resist and fight his demand to be “appropriately compensated” out of court, and will risk him carrying through on his threat to seek $1bn in damages by going to court. These times are difficult for the BBC but we will get through it. We will get through it and we will thrive. This narrative will not just be given by our enemies. It’s our narrative. We own things. I see the free press under pressure. I see the weaponisation. I think we have to fight for our journalism. We have made some mistakes that have cost us but we need to fight for that. Continue reading. . .

Tim Davie tells BBC staff ‘we have to fight for our journalism’ but does not address Trump’s $1bn lawsuit threat – live
Reposts 25 2h
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Robbie Gibb was appointed to the BBC Board by Boris Johnson, was an editorial advisor for GB News, and worked as Theresa May's Director of Comms.

He is not impartial or neutral. The government should remove him from the Board immediately to protect the BBC's independence.
November 11, 2025 at 1:00 PM
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24%
Biased sample maybe, but top ten from its website doesn't suggest the BBC Trump thing is getting a massive amount of traction this lunchtime.
November 11, 2025 at 12:37 PM

Reposted by Steven H. Seggie

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I'm surprised that he hasn't yet committed the GLP to fundraising for Trump's $1Bn lawsuit, planning to show how the BBC sometimes fails to be biased in a way that he's in favour of.
November 11, 2025 at 12:30 PM
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Not resiling from this one iota in spite of the feeding frenzy, the resignations, and the talk of a billion dollar law suit of the last few days. If those on the right in this country seriously think that lining up with Donald Trump against the BBC is a good call, then I say good luck with that.
The attention the Tory party in the media and in the Commons are giving to this story is a reflection of just how far off the deep-end both have gone in recent times. Sure, they have a long-term vested interest in trying to undermine faith in the Beeb. But this is such a non-issue for most voters.
The BBC is apologising for its Panorama edit. It shouldn’t. First, the narrative is true: Donald Trump *did* incite the Capitol riot. Second, the apology won’t appease those attacking it. So why not at least stand for something?

Wrote this on it earlier this week:
inews.co.uk/news/world/b...
November 11, 2025 at 12:13 PM

Reposted by Noura Erakat

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The BBC is far from perfect. But it is obvious that it is now under sustained assault by the far right, for far-right reasons. Every single person accusing the BBC of 'bias' is themselves extremely biased, and while they may have no comparable obligation to be... www.theguardian.com/politics/liv...
Tim Davie tells BBC staff he sees ‘weaponisation’ as Trump threatens $1bn lawsuit – UK politics live
Outgoing director general says freedom of press under pressure: ‘We have to fight for our journalism’
www.theguardian.com
November 11, 2025 at 11:47 AM
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Conservative Shadow Culture Secretary Nigel Huddleston tells GB News that the BBC should "grovel" to Trump.

Amazing how many British 'patriots' are spending their time telling our national broadcaster to prostrate itself before a hostile foreign leader
November 11, 2025 at 11:21 AM