London (AFP) – The BBC on Monday formally launched its search for a new chief following the resignation of Tim Davie over a misleading edit of Donald Trump that sparked a row with the US president. The British broadcaster has apologised for the edit, which gave the impression Donald Trump had urged violent action ahead of the 2021 assault on the US Capitol. Trump has threatened a $5 billion lawsuit over the case. The BBC has rejected his demands for compensation.
Director General Davie announced his resignation along with the corporation’s head of news on November 9 after Trump attacked “corrupt journalists”. The advert for the BBC’s top job went live on Monday, with the deadline to apply listed as December 31. The job specification describes the role as one of “the most important, high-profile public posts in the UK”.
The BBC has faced several other controversies this year, including over the airing of anti-Israeli military chants from a band during the Glastonbury music festival. BBC chair Samir Shah on Monday told a parliamentary committee looking into what went wrong over the Trump edit that news chief Deborah Turness was right to resign over the “error in her division”. But he added that he had spent “a great deal of time” trying to convince Davie not to quit. “The board wished that the director general had not resigned. He had our full confidence throughout,” he said.
Shah also said the broadcaster should have acted sooner to acknowledge its mistake after the error was disclosed in a memo that was leaked to The Daily Telegraph newspaper and published early this month. Trump’s legal team has said the edit gave a “false, defamatory, malicious, disparaging, and inflammatory” impression of what he said in his speech outside the White House. Michael Prescott, the author of the leaked memo, told MPs that Trump’s reputation had “probably not” been tarnished by the edit.
The BBC is funded in Britain by a licence fee payable by anyone who watches live television.
© 2024 AFP
