Former President Donald Trump took a victory lap this weekend after two of the BBC’s top executives abruptly resigned following revelations that the network aired a manipulated version of one of his speeches from January 2021. The controversy erupted after an internal whistleblower memo alleged that the BBC had edited Trump’s remarks to make it appear as though he encouraged supporters to riot at the U.S. Capitol.
“The TOP people in the BBC, including TIM DAVIE, the BOSS, are all quitting/FIRED, because they were caught ‘doctoring’ my very good (PERFECT!) speech of January 6th,” Trump wrote Sunday on Truth Social.
He went on to praise The Telegraph for bringing the alleged misconduct to light, saying, “Thank you to The Telegraph for exposing these corrupt ‘journalists.’ These are very dishonest people who tried to step on the scales of a Presidential Election.”
BBC Director General Tim Davie and CEO of News Deborah Turness both stepped down over the weekend, just days after the internal 19-page memo surfaced. The document reportedly detailed how network editors altered footage of Trump’s January 6 address to imply that he had incited violence—an accusation Trump has consistently denied.
The scandal has sent shockwaves through the British media landscape, raising fresh questions about journalistic integrity and the influence of political bias in global newsrooms. For Trump, the resignations mark another opportunity to bolster his long-standing argument that major media institutions have sought to undermine him through distortion and misrepresentation.
Neither Davie nor Turness has commented publicly on their resignations, while the BBC has yet to issue a detailed response beyond confirming their departures. The fallout, however, has already fueled broader debate about accountability in journalism—and how far major outlets have gone in shaping public perception during one of the most divisive chapters in modern political history.
BBC director general Tim Davie and News CEO Deborah Turness have resigned following the revelations of BBC bias by the Telegraph.
Good but they should be the first of many. The BBC is now a national disgrace. pic.twitter.com/F85MUoAN4T
— Chris Rose (@ArchRose90) November 9, 2025
Whistleblower Memo Reveals BBC Edited Trump Speech to Create False Impression of Incitement
According to a memo obtained by The Telegraph, the BBC allegedly spliced together three separate segments of a speech delivered by former President Donald Trump to make it appear as though he delivered a single, continuous statement urging his supporters to engage in violent riots.
As The Telegraph reported, a Panorama program broadcast just a week before the U.S. election “completely misled viewers” by portraying Trump as saying he would walk with his supporters to the Capitol to “fight like hell.” In reality, the memo noted, Trump’s actual words were that he would accompany them “to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.”
The internal dossier further claimed that the program made the former president “say things [he] never actually said” by combining footage from the beginning of his address with remarks he made nearly an hour later—an edit that fundamentally altered the meaning and tone of his speech.
INSANE: BBC Panorama *edited footage* of Trump’s speech to make it look like he encouraged the Capitol Hill riot.
The Trump hating leftists at the BBC broadcast the programme a week before the US election.
Scrap the licence fee. pic.twitter.com/b40Njc9mIp
— Lee Harris (@addicted2newz) November 3, 2025
Whistleblower Sends Dossier Alleging BBC Bias, Sparks Leadership Shake-Up
The whistleblower dossier, compiled by former BBC editorial adviser Michael Prescott, was circulated to every member of the BBC Board last month. Prescott, who has since resigned from his advisory role on the BBC’s Editorial Guidelines and Standards Committee, told The Telegraph that he felt compelled to share the memo after his repeated warnings about the network’s perceived bias were “dismissed or ignored.”
“I departed [from the advisory role] with profound and unresolved concerns about the BBC,” Prescott said, according to The Telegraph. He warned the BBC Board that the network had undermined its credibility through what he described as “an alarming display of blatant political bias.”
Prescott questioned the very foundation of the broadcaster’s editorial standards, asking: “If BBC journalists are to be allowed to edit video in order to make people ‘say’ things they never actually said, then what value are the corporation’s guidelines, why should the BBC be trusted, and where will this all end?”
He argued that such practices have contributed to a sharp decline in public trust, with audiences increasingly perceiving establishment media as politically motivated. Prescott suggested that this erosion of credibility is likely to continue, further diminishing the network’s influence and viewership.
