Cutting Trump’s speech was costly! DG and CEO of BBC resigned, know what is the whole controversy of removing the word ‘peaceful’

There was a wave of resignations on Sunday after a major shakeup at the BBC, one of the world’s most prestigious media organizations. The controversy over misleadingly editing a speech by former US President Donald Trump became so heated that British Broadcasting Corporation Director General (DG) Tim Davy and News Division CEO Deborah Ternes had to resign from their posts.

This entire controversy is related to Trump’s speech given just before the Capitol Hill riot in Washington on January 6, 2021.

What is the whole controversy?

The BBC is accused of trimming Trump’s speech for a documentary in such a way that its entire meaning changed. According to critics, the part of the speech where Trump had asked his supporters to ‘peacefully protest’ was removed. Removing this one word made the footage appear as if Trump was directly inciting violence, making the entire footage ‘misleading’.

Accepted the mistake and took full responsibility

In a letter to staff, DG Tim Davie said, “‘Leaving my job is entirely my decision. I have made some mistakes and because I am Director General, I have to take full responsibility for them.'”

CEO Deborah Turneys said, “This controversy has ‘reached a level where it is damaging the BBC, an institution that I love. I take full responsibility for this.'” However, she rejected the accusation that the BBC is ‘institutionally biased’.

Revealed from a leaked memo

This entire matter was revealed by an internal whistleblowing memo published by the British newspaper ‘The Telegraph’. This memo revealed that the BBC had deliberately edited Trump’s speech to make it appear that he had encouraged the Capitol Hill rioters. Whereas Trump actually said that he would walk towards the Capitol to ‘cheer up our brave senators and congressmen and women.’ The leaked memo proved that the footage was manipulated.

Trump campaign calls BBC ‘fake news’

As soon as the report came out, Trump and his supporters launched a scathing attack on the BBC. Donald Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., wrote on ‘X’, ‘UK’s FAKE NEWS ‘reporters’ are just as dishonest and full of bullshit as US reporters!

After this, senior White House official Caroline Levitt called BBC ‘100% fake news’ and a ‘propaganda machine’. He alleged that British taxpayers’ money was being used to run a ‘leftist propaganda machine’.