The broadcaster’s director general and news chief have left their positions in the wake of a scandal over 2021 US Capitol riots coverage
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has mocked the British state-funded broadcaster after its director general and head of news announced their resignations on Sunday.
The development follows a scandal linked to a documentary about US President Donald Trump’s role in the 2021 Capitol riots, which had previously drawn criticism from Washington.
Leavitt posted screenshots of two media reports with the caption “shot/chaser,” referencing a popular meme format. The first showed a Telegraph headline claiming President Trump was “going to war” with the BBC, while the second was the BBC’s own report on the resignation of its director general, Tim Davie.
Davie stepped down alongside the head of news, Deborah Turness. The director general did not give specific reasons for his departure, stating only that “there have been some mistakes made.” Turness said the “ongoing controversy around the Panorama [program] on President Trump has reached a stage where it is causing damage to the BBC.”
The broadcaster was recently accused of misleading the public in its coverage of Trump’s role in the Capitol riots. Leavitt had earlier described the BBC as a “Leftist propaganda machine” and “total, 100 percent fake news.”
The BBC is funded through a mandatory annual license fee of £174.50 ($229), with the UK government also directly covering about one-third of its World Service budget.
UK Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Lisa Nandy responded to the resignations by thanking Davie for his “service to public broadcasting over many years” and said the BBC must “adapt” to a new era and maintain “its role at the heart of national life for decades to come.”
