Washington DC [US], November 12: The outgoing boss of Britain's BBC sought to rally his journalists on Wednesday, saying that although they had made mistakes they needed to fight for their work as the broadcaster confronts legal action by U.S. President Donald Trump.
The British Broadcasting Corporation has been plunged into its biggest crisis in decades after its two most senior staff, Director General Tim Davie and head of news Deborah Turness, quit following criticism over standards and accusations of bias at the BBC, including over how it edited a speech by Trump.
Trump's lawyers have said the BBC must retract the documentary in which the edited speech was aired by Friday, or face a lawsuit for "no less" than $1 billion.
Davie told staff that he was fiercely proud of the publicly funded organisation, while acknowledging that "we have made some mistakes that have cost us".
"We are a unique and precious organisation, and I see the free press under pressure, I see the weaponisation," he said at an all-staff meeting, without elaborating.
Some politicians and sections of the British press have directed allegations of bias at the BBC - including claims that it favours the governing Labour Party - and have used the criticism to challenge its licence fee funding model.
Supporters of the broadcaster argue that such attacks are part of a broader campaign against public service media.
Speaking in parliament, culture minister Lisa Nandy defended the BBC as a beacon of high journalistic standards despite the challenges: "At a time that lines are being dangerously blurred between fact and opinion. (the BBC) is a light on the hill".
A snap YouGov poll conducted on Monday, a day after Davie's resignation, showed one-third of the British public believes the BBC has a left-wing bias.
Analysts say the resignations have exposed deep frictions over governance and editorial standards at the broadcaster, raising questions about whether it can maintain public trust.
An internal memo by a former BBC adviser accused it of editorial failings on Trump, the Israel-Hamas war and transgender coverage.
Source: Fijian Broadcasting Corporation
