A BBC board member is the newest to resign from the broadcaster amid the backlash to a documentary that President Donald Trump plans to sue over.
Shumeet Banerji, a tech investor who’s served as a non-executive board member since 2022, cited “governance issues” and famous he was “not consulted” in regards to the occasions that led to 2 prime information executives resigning, the BBC shared Friday.
Banerji didn’t instantly reply to requests for touch upon his choice. On its web site, the BBC described him as being “responsible for upholding and protecting the independence of the BBC by acting in the public interest and exercising independent judgement.”
His departure comes per week after Trump stated he would doubtless sue the BBC for as much as $5 billion after the information group apologized for the best way it edited a Trump speech that appeared in a documentary that aired per week earlier than the 2024 presidential election.
The clips of Trump’s remarks, delivered simply earlier than rioters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, had been spliced collectively in a manner that prompt Trump stated he was going to stroll to the Capitol along with his supporters to “fight like hell.” In truth, Trump stated he would stroll along with his supporters “to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard,” solely calling on them later to “fight like hell.”
Bloomberg by way of Getty Photos
Shortly after the edited clip was highlighted in a file from a former exterior BBC advisor and reported by The Telegraph on Nov. 3, two prime BBC executives ― Director-Common Tim Davie and information CEO Deborah Turness ― each introduced they would depart the company, with Davie saying “there have been some mistakes made” and Turness saying leaders like herself ought to be held “fully accountable” for vital errors.
Turness, nonetheless, added that “recent allegations that BBC News is institutionally biased are wrong.”
Within the BBC’s apology to Trump final week, it stated it had no plans to rebroadcast the documentary and didn’t consider the incident was grounds for a lawsuit.
“While the BBC sincerely regrets the manner in which the video clip was edited, we strongly disagree there is a basis for a defamation claim,” a spokesperson stated.
The BBC issued its assertion after Trump’s legal professionals demanded the broadcaster apologize, retract the documentary and supply him with compensation for the “overwhelming reputational and financial harm” the documentary allegedly brought on him.
Trump vowed to proceed with authorized motion after his calls for weren’t met.
“We’ll sue them for anywhere between $1 billion and $5 billion, probably sometime next week,” Trump informed reporters aboard Air Power One final Friday.
