The outgoing boss of the British Broadcasting Corporation said he was "very proud" of the BBC's journalists, two days after he quit following accusations of bias and the threat of legal action from U.S. President Donald Trump.
"I'm very, very proud of our journalists in this building. They're doing work I think is incredibly important," Tim Davie said on Tuesday, the first time he has spoken publicly since announcing his resignation on Sunday.
"They're doing a wonderful job," he added.
Davie, who has been Director General since 2020, also tried to calm worries over the future of the broadcaster.
"The BBC is going to be thriving, and I support everyone on the team," he said.
The publicly-funded BBC Head of News Deborah Turness, also quit on Sunday, plunging it into its biggest crisis in decades and dominating the front of Britain's newspapers on Tuesday.
Public trust
Analysts say the resignations have exposed deep frictions over governance and editorial standards, raising questions about whether the BBC can maintain public trust.
Legal action
An internal memo by a former BBC adviser accused it of editorial failings on President Donald Trump, the Israel-Hamas war and transgender coverage.
Trump has now threatened legal action for the editing of a speech he made in 2021 on the day his supporters overran the Capitol.
His lawyers said that BBC must retract the "Panorama" documentary by 14 November or face a lawsuit for "no less" than $1 billion, according to a letter sent on Sunday.
BBC apologises
BBC chair Samir Shah apologised for the "error of judgment" in the edit included in a Panorama documentary aired shortly before the November 2024 U.S. presidential election.
In a letter to British lawmakers, Shah also rejected claims of systemic bias, saying surveys showed Britons trusted BBC News more than any other outlet.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the BBC was not "corrupt" or "institutionally biased" and stressed the need for it to maintain high standards.
The programme - produced by a third party - spliced together remarks delivered nearly an hour apart, omitting Trump's call for peaceful protest, creating the impression he urged violence.
The BBC, founded in 1922 and funded largely by a licence fee paid by all TV-owning households, is now without a permanent leader as it faces a review of its funding model.
The current 10-year charter expires in 2027. This is the Royal charter that is a constitutional document that guarentees the BBC's independence from the government.
The ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon will be lengthened by three weeks, U.S. President Donald Trump said in a post on social media website...
Lebanon and Israel have agreed to extend their ceasefire by three weeks following talks at the White House, U.S. President Donald Trump...
The U.S. military is redirecting at least three Iranian-flagged tankers after intercepting them in Asian w...
The European Union adopted its 20th package of sanctions against Russia on Thursday (23 April), introducing sweeping new restrictions aimed at weak...
European Union leaders were set to discuss the bloc’s mutual assistance clause at a summit in southern Cyprus on Thursday, as U.S. President ...
The ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon will be lengthened by three weeks, U.S. President Donald Trump said in a post on social media website Truth Social early on Friday (24 April), while stating in a separate earlier post that he was in no rush to make a deal with Iran.
Lebanon and Israel have agreed to extend their ceasefire by three weeks following talks at the White House, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday (23 April).
The U.S. military is redirecting at least three Iranian-flagged tankers after intercepting them in Asian waters near India, Malaysia and Sri Lanka, shipping and security sources said on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Tehran said U.S. breaches, blockades and threats are undermining “genuine negotiations.”
We are not witnessing another cyclical downturn or a temporary geopolitical disturbance. What we are living through is far more profound: a systemic recalibration of the global order. Three long-standing assumptions have quietly collapsed.
The U.S. military has intercepted at least three Iranian-flagged tankers in Asian waters and is redirecting them away from their positions near India, Malaysia and Sri Lanka, shipping and security sources said on Wednesday, exclusively to Reuters.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards targeted three vessels, seizing two of them for alleged maritime violations and transferring them to Iranian shores, as U.S. President Donald Trump said Washington is extending its ceasefire with Iran until Tehran submits a proposal.
Two local trains collided head-on north of Copenhagen on Thursday (23 April), injuring 17 people, five of them critically, according to emergency services.
The U.S. military is redirecting at least three Iranian-flagged tankers after intercepting them in Asian waters near India, Malaysia and Sri Lanka, shipping and security sources said on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Tehran said U.S. breaches, blockades and threats are undermining “genuine negotiations.”
The European Union is preparing its 20th round of sanctions against Russia over the war in Ukraine. The measures are close to being approved, after earlier delays linked to energy concerns in Slovakia and Hungary eased following repairs to the Druzhba oil pipeline.
The European Union adopted its 20th package of sanctions against Russia on Thursday (23 April), introducing sweeping new restrictions aimed at weakening Moscow’s war economy and limiting its capacity to sustain the war in Ukraine.
European Union leaders were set to discuss the bloc’s mutual assistance clause at a summit in southern Cyprus on Thursday, as U.S. President Donald Trump’s criticism of traditional allies raises concerns over his commitment to NATO.
International cyber agencies on Thursday (23 April) urged organisations to strengthen defences against covert networks used by China-linked hackers to conceal malicious activity, Britain’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) said.
SoutSouth Korea’s national data protection agency said on Thursday it had imposed a significant fine on matchmaking service Duo following a cybersecurity failure that led to the leak of highly sensitive personal information.
China has released a military propaganda video hinting at a possible fourth aircraft carrier - its first to be nuclear-powered.
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