By Max Colchester

LONDON -- The chairman of the BBC apologized Monday for how the U.K. state broadcaster edited a speech by President Trump, in an effort to draw a line under a scandal that has prompted both its director general and head of news to resign following criticism by the White House.

The apology came a day after BBC Director-General Tim Davie and BBC News Chief Executive Deborah Turness said they were leaving the organization.

The controversy stems from a documentary aired by the BBC's flagship investigative news program "Panorama" that ran a week before the 2024 U.S. election. The aired footage spliced together two parts of the president's remarks on Jan. 6, 2021, before the Capitol riot.

An independent BBC ethics adviser wrote to the BBC board expressing reservations about the footage, which was part of a catalog of complaints about the broadcaster's treatment of a number of issues, including the war in Gaza and trans rights.

This dossier was then leaked to the Daily Telegraph, which published excerpts over the past week. The Trump administration over the weekend accused the BBC of being "purposefully dishonest" in the documentary program.

In a letter to a U.K. parliamentary committee, BBC Chairman Samir Shah apologized and called the decision to edit together two parts of the Trump speech an "error of judgment." The BBC chair said that the Trump speech hadn't been dealt with at the time because it hadn't attracted much audience feedback. Shah said that the change in management was an "attempt to tackle the underlying problems" identified at the BBC and pledged "continuous improvement" at the broadcaster.

The debacle is yet another black eye for an organization that has been buffeted by controversy in recent years, as politicians on both the left and the right of the British political spectrum accuse it of failing to uphold its impartiality standards. The BBC on Monday pushed back on such claims and said it remains one of the most trusted news organizations in the world.

Write to Max Colchester at Max.Colchester@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 10, 2025 08:51 ET (13:51 GMT)

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