The outgoing BBC director general told staff to “fight for our journalism”, a day after Donald Trump threatened the corporation with a $1 billion legal action.
So what? The BBC is fighting for much more. As a century-old creator of content that ranges from music to sport, weather forecasts and wildlife docs, it is facing down dangers that could
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inhibit the scrutiny and accountability it brings to society;
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undermine already waning public trust in a national institution; and
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raise urgent questions about the funding model on which it depends.
Where it began. Last Monday the Telegraph reported on a leaked internal memo that criticised a piece of editing in a Panorama broadcast that spliced together two elements of Donald Trump’s speech on January 6. It was aired days before the 2024 election. The memo, written by a former standards adviser for the BBC, said the documentary “completely misled viewers”.
Action stations. Deborah Turness, CEO of BBC News, proposed an apology that Monday. But some members of the corporation’s board rebelled on the grounds that it was not clear enough.
Leak to flood. This allowed the story to grow, culminating in the resignation of Turness and the BBC director general Tim Davie on Sunday evening. The apology only came a day later and a week after the initial Telegraph article. The BBC chair Samir Shah said there had been “error of judgement” and admitted the edit gave “the impression of a direct call for violent action”.
Too late. By that point Trump had already threatened to sue the BBC for $1 billion. His legal letter gave the corporation until Friday to issue a “full and fair retraction” and called for it to “appropriately compensate” him. Regardless of the merits of any claim, Trump has previously used ambitious lawsuits to secure eight-figure settlements from Paramount and ABC News.
Tread carefully. Trump’s intervention could prove awkward for Labour and Keir Starmer, who has spent this year courting the US president. Although the BBC is independent, it gets 68 per cent of its funding from a licence fee set by the government and paid by British households. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office also helps fund the World Service.
Insult to injury. The BBC can ill afford this scandal as it tries to shore up its revenues. Last year the licence fee raised £3.8 billion, but lost out on nearly half a billion pounds from non-payment. The fare evasion rate rose from an estimated 6.9 per cent in 2019/20 to 12.5 per cent in 2024/25.
Bad timing. The BBC is also about to start negotiations with the government over its royal charter, which sets the terms of its existence and is up for renewal in 2027, as well as its funding. Currently the two most senior positions at the corporation lie empty. A poor deal would not only imperil audiences in the UK, but also the 450 million people served by the BBC globally.
Have faith. The BBC is the most trusted news source in the world, the most trusted in Britain, and the second most trusted in the US behind the Weather Channel. But it is much more politically divisive than in 2003, when eight in ten Brits trusted its journalists to tell the truth.
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73 per cent of Reform voters believe the BBC is biased in favour of left-wing views;
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31 per cent of Labour voters believe it is biased in favour of right-wing views; and
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just 19 per cent of all respondents to YouGov polling think it is not biased.
Pitchforks out. A Trump-shaped drama could go one, or both, of two ways for the BBC. It may harden the opinions of people on the right against it or energise people on the centre and left to spring to its defence. It has already exposed internal schisms. A key board member is Robbie Gibb, a former Conservative spin doctor appointed by Boris Johnson’s government in 2021.
Or the highway. Gibb, who has worked to unpick what he regards as liberal bias at the BBC, was heard last year to say he would “blow the place up” if he didn’t get his way. He reportedly amplified criticisms that preceded the resignation of Turness and Davie.
For the record. The BBC’s Nick Robinson said that “friends of Sir Robbie insist he has repeatedly and consistently supported Tim Davie and wanted him to stay”.
What’s more… Less than a week ago the BBC was riding the wave of The Celebrity Traitors, even as the documentary scandal brewed. But who is and isn’t a faithful within the corporation, and the government of the day, is far from clear.
Photograph by Leon Neal/Getty Images.