The BBC on Monday formally began its search for a new Director General following the resignation of Tim Davie over a misleading edit involving former US President Donald Trump, an incident that escalated into a diplomatic row.
The broadcaster has apologised for the edit, which made it appear as though Trump had encouraged violent action ahead of the January 2021 assault on the US Capitol. Trump has threatened a $5 billion lawsuit, although the BBC has rejected his demands for compensation.
Davie, along with the BBC’s head of news, announced his resignation on November 9 after Trump publicly accused the corporation of employing “corrupt journalists.”
The advertisement for the BBC’s top role went live on Monday, with applications open until December 31. The job description calls the Director General’s position “one of the most important, high-profile public posts in the UK.”
The corporation has faced several controversies this year, including criticism over broadcasts from the Glastonbury Festival in which a performing band chanted anti-Israeli military slogans.
Appearing before a parliamentary committee on Monday, BBC chair Samir Shah said news chief Deborah Turness was right to resign over the “error in her division.” However, he added that he had spent considerable time trying to dissuade Davie from stepping down.
“The board wished that the Director General had not resigned. He had our full confidence throughout,” Shah told MPs.
He also acknowledged that the broadcaster should have acted more quickly to publicly address the error after it was revealed in a memo leaked to The Daily Telegraph earlier this month.
Trump’s legal team maintains that the misleading edit created a “false, defamatory, malicious, disparaging, and inflammatory” impression of the former president’s remarks outside the White House.
Michael Prescott, the author of the leaked memo, told MPs that Trump’s reputation had “probably not” been harmed by the edit.
The BBC, a public broadcaster, is funded in the UK through a licence fee paid by anyone who watches live television.
