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The BBC has revealed a reorganization of a significant editorial committee following criticism regarding its response to concerns about the editing of a Donald Trump speech, alongside other editorial issues. This announcement came in the wake of an internal review published last Friday, which criticised the broadcaster’s executives for not acting “quickly or decisively enough” after discovering the misleading alteration of President Trump’s speech in a Panorama programme.
The controversy surrounding the edited footage resulted in the resignations of the BBC’s director general and head of news last month. It also triggered a costly lawsuit from Donald Trump himself. To prevent similar situations in the future, BBC chairman Samir Shah stated that changes to the board’s editorial standards committee would be implemented. These changes aim to guarantee that “swift, appropriate and transparent action is taken to address editorial issues as effectively as possible, whenever they occur.”
Among the alterations, the committee will no longer be chaired by the BBC chairman, which means Samir Shah will step down from leading this panel after receiving criticism over his handling of the dispute. Additionally, the BBC’s head of news will be removed from the committee. Despite this, board member Sir Robbie Gibb, who previously served as a director of communications at Downing Street and whose role at the BBC has been closely examined, will stay on the committee. He will be joined by two other non-executive directors. The committee’s scope will be refined to establish a “robust and transparent approach” to dealing with editorial concerns like those raised by the Panorama episode, with an emphasis on addressing issues promptly. Caroline Thomson, a BBC board member, conducted the review and will assume the role of the committee’s new chairwoman.
In addition to the Panorama dispute, the leaked internal memo from last month exposed wider concerns, including the BBC’s coverage of the Israel-Gaza conflict and transgender-related topics. A separate review was published alongside the committee changes and concluded that there is no need to amend the BBC’s existing guidelines for journalists on editing. The current editorial standards state that editing “must never be used to give the audience a materially misleading impression of events.” Peter Johnston, the director of editorial complaints and reviews, explained: “I was asked to look at the editorial guidelines on use of editing. I do not believe any changes are required, but we will ensure these lessons are reinforced.” He added that the Panorama editing issue was the “key unresolved issue” from the leaked memo, while other concerns identified had already seen corrective action.
The BBC had earlier issued an apology for an “error of judgement” that resulted in the documentary wrongly implying President Trump had directly called for violent action during his speech on January 6, 2021, the day of the Capitol riots. Recently, the broadcaster confirmed it would contest a defamation lawsuit initiated by Donald Trump, who claims that the Panorama episode was defamatory and breached trade practices legislation
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