The BBC’s director-general has stepped down from his role after the broadcaster was embroiled in a “fake news” storm when it was revealed that quotes from a Donald Trump speech were stitched together in a Panorama documentary.
Tim Davie resigned on Sunday over concerns raised in a report by former BBC editorial standards advisor Michael Prescott about how the US President’s words were stitched together despite being about separate topics and were spoken nearly an hour apart.
The Panorama documentary blunder is the latest headline-grabbing capturing scandal to hit the BBC with Mr Davie at the helm.
Here are some of the biggest controversies he has faced in his time at the top of the BBC.
March 2023 - Gary Lineker suspended over tweet
The BBC’s highest-paid presenter was temporarily suspended in March 2023 over an impartiality row about comments he made criticising the then-government’s new asylum policy.
Lineker compared the language used to launch the policy by the Conservatives with Thirties Germany in a tweet.
The former footballer later left the BBC after using Instagram to promote a pro-Palestinian video that used a rat emoji, a symbol used by the Nazis as a slur against Jewish people.
The then-Match of the Day host “apologised unreservedly” and said he would “never knowingly share anything antisemitic” before he left the broadcaster in May this year.
February 2024 - Anti-Semitism row
Mr Davie was forced to send a note to BBC staff explaining the corporation had been “alerted to antisemitic behaviour by people who worked with us”.
The broadcaster had received a number of complaints about its reporting of the Israel-Hamas war and faced further scrutiny when it was discovered a contestant on the BBC series The Apprentice had made remarks on social media about the conflict.
Ministers and pressure groups were among those to raise concerns about the BBC’s reporting of the Hamas invasion of Israel on October 7 2023 and the Israeli government’s bombing of the Gaza Strip.
July 2024 - Huw Edwards pleads guilty to accessing indecent photographs of children
One of the most recognisable presenters in the country Huw Edwards pleaded guilty to accessing indecent photographs of children as young as seven.
Edwards was the BBC’s highest-paid newsreader and had delivered the news that the late Queen had died in September 2022.
He was convicted following a year of headlines which began when he was named as the presenter at the centre of a scandal over payments to a young person for sexually explicit images.
Mr Davie later described how Edwards had committed “appalling crimes” that had impacted the BBC’s reputation.
February 2025 - Gaza documentary narrated by Hamas official’s son
The BBC was forced to pull a documentary on the war in Gaza after it emerged its 13-year-old narrator was the son of a Hamas official.
The corporation apologised and admitted “serious flaws” in the making of the Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone documentary in February.
The film, which was made for the BBC by the independent production company HOYO Films, was removed from BBC iPlayer after it emerged the child narrator, Abdullah, is the son of Ayman Alyazouri, who has worked as Hamas’s deputy minister of agriculture.
Mr Davie later told the Culture, Media and Sport Committee that Gaza has been “the toughest editorial coverage challenge we’ve ever had”.
July 2025 - MasterChef presenters axed
MasterChef presenter Gregg Wallace was axed by the BBC following a nine-month investigation into misconduct claims.
The 60-year-old announced his departure in a lengthy Instagram statement, marking the end of his 21-year run with the broadcaster.
Wallace had been a regular fixture on BBC screens for almost two decades, best known for co-hosting MasterChef, Celebrity MasterChef and MasterChef: The Professionals alongside co-judge John Torode.
Torode was also fired from MasterChef in July after allegations that he used a racial slur during an after-work drinks in 2018.
July 2025 - Bob Vylan’s Glastonbury performance broadcast live
Punk rap duo were investigated by the police over comments made during their Glastonbury performance.
Singer Bobby Vylan led chants of “death to the IDF (Israel Defence Forces)” during the group’s show on the West Holts Stage, which was livestreamed by the BBC.
The organisation later expressed regret for not stopping its broadcast of the “unacceptable” set.
In a statement at the time the broadcaster said: “The BBC respects freedom of expression but stands firmly against incitement to violence.”
November 2025 - Trump documentary ‘doctored’
Mr Davie announced he was resigning as the BBC’s Director-General following claims that a speech had been selectively edited in the documentary, Trump: A Second Chance?
The chief executive of BBC News, Deborah Turness, also announced her resignation on Sunday, explaining to staff that the “ongoing controversy around the Panorama on President Trump has reached a stage where it is causing damage to the BBC – an institution that I love”.
The BBC error came to light after a memo by Michael Prescott, a former external adviser to the BBC’s editorial standards committee, raised concerns in the summer about the way clips of Trump’s speech were spliced together.
Two quotes from a speech made by US President Donald Trump were stitched together to make it appear he had told supporters ahead of the Capitol riot he was going to march on Congress with them to “fight like hell” in 2021.
However, Trump had made the comments nearly an hour apart and in fact had been speaking about elections being “corrupt” when he made the “fight like hell” remark.
