LONDON, Nov. 10 (Xinhua) -- BBC Chair Samir Shah on Monday apologized for an "error of judgement" over a BBC documentary.
BBC Director-General Tim Davie and CEO of News Deborah Turness have resigned following criticism that the documentary misled viewers by editing remarks made by U.S. President Donald Trump, the broadcaster announced on Sunday.
The controversy centered on the Panorama documentary "Trump: A Second Chance?" aired last year. The program was criticized for splicing together clips of Trump's speech on Jan. 6, 2021 in a way that allegedly gave the misleading impression that he urged his supporters to march to the U.S. Capitol and "fight like hell."
The Telegraph reported on Nov. 3 that a leaked internal BBC memo by Michael Prescott, a former independent external adviser to the broadcaster's editorial standards committee, flagged the issue.
"The BBC would like to apologise for that error of judgement," Shah said in his letter of apology.
Davie said in his resignation statement that "I wanted to let you know that I have decided to leave the BBC after 20 years," adding that "there have been some mistakes made and as director-general I have to take ultimate responsibility."
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said Sunday that there were a series of "very serious allegations" that had been made about the BBC, "the most serious of which is that there is systemic bias in the way that difficult issues are reported at the BBC."
"I've spoken to the chair (of the BBC) this week, I am confident that he is treating this with the seriousness that this demands," she said when appearing on a BBC current affairs program. ■