The BBC’s top leader and head of its news division resigned over criticism of how the broadcaster edited US President Donald Trump’s speech before some of his supporters stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Advertisement
The scandal leading to Sunday’s resignations is hardly the first controversy to hit Britain’s publicly funded broadcaster – or to topple one of its leaders.
The editorially independent British Broadcasting Corporation was founded in 1922 to be impartial, act in the public interest and be open, transparent and accountable.
While it is widely respected for its global news operation and the entertainment and sports programmes it produces, it is frequently the source of criticism for its coverage and has also been ensnared in scandals that happened off the air.
Here’s a look at some controversies or scandals that have forced out some of the BBC’s leaders:
Jimmy Savile scandal
November 2012: George Entwistle resigned as director general over the Newsnight programme’s decision not to run a report that entertainer Jimmy Savile, one of its most popular presenters who had died the previous year, was a serial sexual abuser of young women.