Ex-BBC boss insists organization doesn’t have anti-Trump bias amid lawsuit over misleading edit
WASHINGTON—Former British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) News CEO Deborah Turness insisted the organization doesn’t have an institutional bias against President Donald Trump on Wednesday in her first public interview since stepping down in November.
Turness resigned amid a growing uproar surrounding a 2024 documentary that included a misleading edit of Trump’s Jan. 6, 2021, speech, prompting the president to file a $10 billion lawsuit. Turness spoke publicly about her exit for the first time at Semafor's Restoring Trust in Media Summit in Washington, D.C.
"I decided to resign, that was my decision," Turness said.
"I was running an organization of 6,000 journalists that pushes out journalism in 42 languages around the world, and there was a problem with an edit… the edit wasn’t up to our editorial standards," Turness added. "But I don’t accept the charge that it was a sign of institutional bias. I don’t."
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Trump’s legal team disagreed, giving a scathing statement to Fox News Digital on the heels of Turness’ comments.
"The formerly respected and now disgraced BBC defamed President Trump by intentionally, maliciously, and deceptively doctoring his speech in a brazen attempt to interfere in the 2024 Presidential Election. The BBC has a long pattern of deceiving its audience in coverage of President Trump, all in service of its own leftist political agenda," a spokesperson for Trump’s legal team said.
However, Turness insists the BBC remains "the world’s most trusted news brand" and hasn’t "taken sides."
"Impartiality is in the BBC’s DNA, and the teams, the journalists at the BBC, really strive to make sure they’re working hard on that," Turness said at Semafor's event.
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Semafor’s Ben Smith said many conservatives would suggest the fact that Turness doesn’t see the bias is "evidence of it, in a way," and asked if the BBC should have given more thought to pro-Israel and anti-transgender views, even if staffers disagreed.
"I think the important thing to understand about the BBC is, it is also criticized from the other side. In fact, on Israel-Gaza, there is more criticism on the BBC being pro-Israeli … what it says is, we live in a polarized world," Turness said.
"Being transparent here, do I think the BBC newsrooms would, in percentage terms, vote the same way as the nation right now in the U.K. in terms of the Reform Party, which is quite an extreme conservative movement, very anti-immigration, et cetera. They are really gathering steam. Do I think the newsrooms are in lockstep with that rapid, sudden, social change? No, I don’t," Turness said. "What that means is you’ve got to work even harder to maintain that impartiality."
The BBC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Panorama documentary spliced two separate comments by Trump made nearly an hour apart in his Jan. 6 address, making him appear like he was calling for violence.
"We're going to walk down to the Capitol. And I'll be there with you. And we fight — we fight like hell," the documentary showed Trump saying, suggesting it was one seamless statement.
However, in reality Trump said, "We're going to walk down to the Capitol. And we're going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women, and we're probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them, because you'll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength, and you have to be strong." It wasn't until 54 minutes later in the address that Trump called on his supporters to "fight like hell" for election integrity.
At another point in the speech, Trump said, "I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard."
In December, Trump sued the BBC for both defamation and a violation of Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act for $5 billion apiece.
A BBC spokesperson told Fox News Digital at the time, "As we have made clear previously, we will be defending this case. We are not going to make further comment on ongoing legal proceedings."
The BBC previously issued an apology for the edit and said it had pulled the program from its platforms, but a spokesperson for the broadcaster added, "While the BBC sincerely regrets the manner in which the video clip was edited, we strongly disagree there is a basis for a defamation claim."
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As the scandal was emerging, Turness said the "buck stops" with her and offered her resignation.
"President Trump’s powerhouse lawsuit is holding the BBC accountable for its defamation and reckless election interference just as he has held other fake news mainstream media responsible for their wrongdoing," a spokesperson for Trump’s legal team told Fox News Digital.