The former BBC News chief on Wednesday rejected the charge that the British broadcaster is institutionally biased, months after she resigned over an editorial scandal that drew Donald Trump’s ire.
In her first interview since she left the BBC, Deborah Turness said at Semafor’s Restoring Trust in Media summit that it was her choice to resign and that the BBC has a long history of striving for impartiality.
Turness stepped down abruptly late last year, along with director general Tim Davie, following the leak of an internal memo that argued the British broadcaster had misleadingly edited a speech by US President Donald Trump before the Jan. 6, 2021 riots.
The White House had accused the BBC of being “purposefully dishonest” by splicing together Trump’s comments to make it appear like he explicitly encouraged the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
The memo caused a crisis at the BBC, which apologized to the president.
“The edit wasn’t up to editorial standards,” Turness said Wednesday, “but I don’t accept the charge that it was a sign of institutional bias.”