The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has announced major changes to its editorial committee amid criticism over handling of President Donald Trump speech.
An internal review published on Friday, December 19 revealed that the executives did not act quickly enough after discovering a misleading edit of Trump's speech in a Panorama program.
During Trump's January 6, 2021 speech which was given shortly before the Capitol riot, Trump first encouraged his supporters to go to the Capitol and show support for lawmakers and later, nearly an hour later in the same speech, he said, "And we fight. We fight like hell."
While, in the Panorama documentary, the BBC combined parts of Trump's speech to make it seem like he said, "We're going to walk down to the Capitol... and I'll be there with you. And we fight. We fight like hell."
The BBC faced major fallout after the Trump speech controversy including the resignations of its director general and head of news and also a multi-billion-dollar lawsuit by Trump.
Later, the outlet apologised to Trump for the way his speech was presented but refused to pay him any compensation and recently vowed to fight a lawsuit filed by Trump.
The new changes will make the committee's role clearers and ensure a strong and transparent process for addressing any editorial issues quickly.
Caroline Thomson, who led the review, will become the committee’s new chair.
Notably, the review also decided that current BBC editing guidelines do not need any changes.
