Turness: BBC is not institutionally biased and journalists are not corrupt

The outgoing chief executive of BBC News has stressed the corporation is “not institutionally biased” and the journalists are not “corrupt”.

Deborah Turness resigned on Sunday alongside director-general Tim Davie over concerns raised in Michael Prescott’s report about the way a speech by Donald Trump was edited for Panorama.

Arriving at Broadcasting House in central London, she told reporters: “I would like to say it has been the privilege of my career to serve as the CEO of BBC News and to work with our brilliant team of journalists.

“I stepped down over the weekend because the buck stops with me.

“But I’d like to make one thing very clear, BBC News is not institutionally biased. That’s why it’s the world’s most trusted news provider.”

Asked if BBC journalists are institutionally corrupt, she replied: “Of course our journalists aren’t corrupt, our journalists are hard working people who strive for impartiality, and I will stand by their journalism.

“There is no institutional bias. Mistakes are made, but there’s no institutional bias.”

Asked why mistakes were not dealt with, including on Mr Trump, on antisemitism and on women’s rights, Ms Turness replied: “I’m sure that story will emerge.”

BBC chairman Samir Shah is expected to send a letter to the Culture, Media and Sport Committee on Monday in which he apologises after the corporation was accused of misleading the public following claims that the speech had been selectively edited in the documentary, Trump: A Second Chance?

Committee chairwoman Dame Caroline told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that Mr Davie’s resignation was “sad” but “avoidable.”

She said: “I’m very sad about Tim Davie stepping down. I think he was an effective leader at the BBC.

“I think he was a great champion for public service media, but there is no escaping the fact that he was very slow to act on this particular issue. But this isn’t the first time and on this particular issue, Michael Prescott’s report, he just didn’t take it seriously until it was too late.

“He should have reacted with concern and examined the claims, but just ignored it.

“But you know, I do feel it was entirely avoidable and it’s really regretful given the huge commitment to the BBC and public service that Tim Davie demonstrated.”

She added that she thinks it seems “a little bit odd” that her committee has not yet heard from Mr Shah.

The resignation of Mr Davie and Ms Turness on Sunday followed days of pressure on the broadcaster over the matter.

A memo by Mr Prescott, a former external adviser to the BBC’s editorial standards committee, raised concerns in the summer about the way clips of the US president’s speech on January 6 2021 were spliced together to make it appear he had told supporters he was going to walk to the US Capitol with them to “fight like hell”.

Critics said the documentary, broadcast by the BBC the week before last year’s US election, was misleading and removed a section where the US president said he wanted supporters to demonstrate peacefully.

Mr Trump welcomed the BBC resignations and claimed there had been an attempt to “step on the scales of a presidential election”, adding: “What a terrible thing for Democracy!”