BBC supporters refute institutional bias claim

Tim Davie, who led the BBC for five years before resigning on Sunday amid a scandal over alleged biased reporting, insisted on Tuesday the British public broadcasting service's journalists are beyond reproach.

Davie made the comments in the wake of a memo by former BBC adviser Michael Prescott that accused the broadcaster of institutional bias and of misrepresenting a Jan 6, 2021 speech by United States President Donald Trump on the flagship news documentary program Panorama, making it seem as if Trump instigated the riot on Capitol Hill.

Davie, who stood down as director-general following pressure from critics who accused the corporation of a left-wing bias, told reporters he was "very, very proud" of the BBC's journalists.

As he arrived at the BBC's head office in central London to deliver a video message to workers, he said its reporters were "doing work I think is incredibly important".

Later, he told them the corporation had made "some mistakes that have cost us" but that "we've got to fight for our journalism".

He also thanked them and said they had been doing "a wonderful job".

After Davie and Deborah Turness, the chief executive of BBC News, stood down, Trump said he plans to sue the corporation if it does not remove all "false" and "defamatory" statements about him.

Samir Shah, the BBC's chairman, admitted an "error of judgment" had been made in the editing of the speech but called for a line to be drawn under the incident.

"We accept that the way the speech was edited did give the impression of a direct call for violent action," Shah said, while insisting it was "simply not true" the BBC had tried to "bury" criticism of it.

Shah made the comments after Trump's legal counsel, Alejandro Brito, wrote to the BBC to demand the removal of all "false, defamatory, disparaging, and inflammatory statements" about Trump.

If that does not happen, Brito said, the president will have "no choice but to pursue any and all legal rights and remedies available to recover damages for the overwhelming financial and reputational harm that the BBC has caused him to suffer".

Brito said Trump would seek damages of $1 billion.

The Daily Telegraph newspaper said the White House is also thinking about restricting the BBC's access to "open press events".

Alison McGovern, the UK's minister of state for local government and homelessness, told Times Radio people should refrain from calling for major changes at the BBC because of the scandal.

"I think we need to make sure that the BBC, one of our most trusted media organizations, invests in quality journalism and tells the stories that we all want to hear," she added.

And a spokesperson for UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer also refused to criticize the broadcaster, telling reporters the BBC is neither corrupt nor institutionally biased.