BBC resignations over a Trump speech edit show the high cost of editorial mistakes in a polarized era

The head of the BBC and the organization’s news CEO both have stepped down after a controversy involving the editing of a speech by President Donald Trump. The speech in question? The one Trump gave on Jan. 6, 2021 — the day Trump supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol.

BBC director-general Tim Davie and BBC News CEO Deborah Turness announced they would leave the publicly funded national broadcaster because of the way Trump’s speech was edited for an episode of the documentary series “Panorama.” The episode was called “Trump: A Second Chance?” and it aired just before last year’s election.

The Associated Press’ Jill Lawless wrote, “Critics said that the way the speech was edited for a BBC documentary last year was misleading and cut out a section where Trump said that he wanted supporters to demonstrate peacefully.”