BBC ‘Too Slow to Act’ on Trump ‘Panorama’ Edit Memo, Chairman Says

BBC Chairman Samir Shah appeared before UK lawmakers alongside the author of a leaked memo exposing apparent bias at the corporation.

BBC Chairman Samir Shah appears before the Culture, Media, and Sport Committee to discuss the work of the BBC at the House of Commons in London on Nov 24, 2025. House of Commons/UK Parliament/PA Wire

BBC Chairman Samir Shah said the corporation was too slow in responding to the leaked memo exposing the “Panorama” editing of President Donald Trump’s speech on Jan. 6, 2021.

Shah was giving evidence to British lawmakers on Nov. 24 when he was asked about his reaction following the memo, in which a former BBC adviser raised multiple concerns about apparent biases within the corporation’s news output.

The “Panorama” documentary was broadcast a week before the 2024 U.S. election, with clips of Trump’s speech spliced together so it falsely appeared that he had told supporters he was going to walk to the U.S. Capitol with them to “fight like hell.”

First Flagged in May

The editing was flagged internally at the BBC before news of the memo made headlines on Nov. 9.

When asked why the BBC board did not immediately apologize for the edit when it was first flagged in a report by David Grossman, Shah said: “Looking back, I think we should have made the decision earlier. I think in May, as it happens.

“I think there is an issue about how quickly we respond, the speed of our response. Why do we not do it quickly enough? Why do we take so much time? And this was another illustration of that.

“We should have, the collective, we should have pursued it to the end and got to the bottom of it and not wait, as we did, until it became public discourse.”

President Donald Trump looks on during a rally in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021. Jim Bourg/File Photo/Reuters

Following reports of the leaked memo, written by Michael Prescott, it took nearly a week for the BBC to issue an apology, and the controversy led to the resignations of its director general, Tim Davie, and head of news, Deborah Turness.

Trump has since threatened to sue the BBC, although no lawsuit has yet been filed.

When asked by the Culture, Media, and Sport Committee about the delay in responding, Shah said: “I needed to understand what went wrong and to get the right answer. Getting the right answer is really important.

“It took time to get it right. We knew what the actual apology was for. I said it wasn’t just about splicing, the editing. It was about the impression, and that had to be done properly and investigated thoroughly.

“I needed to be sure, and I was right about what I was saying. This is a very, very important error, and I needed to make sure that what I was apologizing for was fully sourced and fully right. It needed to be right, and it took its time.”

‘An Honorable and Proper Act’

Shah told members of Parliament he “spent a great deal of time” trying to stop Davie from resigning as head of the publicly funded broadcaster, but he said it was the right thing for Turness to step down.

“I do not think the director-general should have resigned,” he said.

“I think that the act by the director of news was an honorable and proper act. I think [Turness] took responsibility, for which I will again say I applaud her for doing so.

“I do not think that meant that the director-general at all had to resign. However, when you read the director-general’s reason for resigning, certainly this was one factor, but he also says there were many other factors that led to that.

“Can I say the board wishes that the director-general had not resigned? He had our full confidence throughout.”

The BBC logo above the entrance to Broadcasting House in London, on Nov. 10, 2025. Leon Neal/Getty Images

Shah said he thinks the director-general role is too big a job for one person, hours after the corporation put up an advertisement recruiting for the position. The chairman said he had thought about restructuring the governance of the BBC and reintroducing the role of deputy director-general, which would include responsibility for news.

The ad does not specify a salary for the director-general, but according to the BBC’s 2024–2025 annual report, Davie earned a base salary of 541,000 pounds ($714,050).

The job vacancy comes amid growing calls for the BBC’s license fee to be scrapped and debates about the future of the corporation.

A television license is a legal requirement for anyone who watches live television in the United Kingdom, regardless of whether they consume any of the BBC’s output. The fee of 174.50 pounds ($230) per household annually goes toward funding the corporation.

The license fee is governed by a royal charter, which is up for renewal in 2027.

Recent figures suggest that a growing number of people are choosing not to pay for a television license, which is a criminal offense if one watches live programs. In such cases, enforcement agents can be sent to homes and penalty fines can be issued. The nonpayment of court-ordered fines can, in rare instances, result in a prison sentence.

Former BBC editorial adviser Michael Prescott appears before the Culture, Media, and Sport Committee to discuss the work of the BBC at the House of Commons in London on Nov. 24, 2025. House of Commons/UK Parliament/PA Wire

‘Issues of Denial’

Prescott told the committee he did not think Trump’s reputation had been tarnished because of the “Panorama” program, in spite of the concerns he raised.

The former journalist told MPs there are “issues of denial” at the BBC and that “the management did not accept there was a problem” with the “Panorama” episode.

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission has opened an investigation into the documentary, and when asked about how it affected Trump, Prescott replied: “I should probably restrain myself a little bit, given that there is a potential legal action.

“All I could say is, I can’t think of anything I agree with Donald Trump on.”

Pressed further on whether he thinks the president’s reputation has been tarnished, he said, “Probably not.”

Prescott told the committee he did not know how his memo, which he had shared only with the Department for Culture, Media, and Sport and with broadcast regulator OfCom, was leaked to the Daily Telegraph.

He said that in spite of the various concerns he raised about BBC bias—including the framing of the debate on transgenderism and issues to do with race as well as aspects of the Gaza war coverage—Prescott said that he and many other Brits still feel great affection for the broadcaster.

“Most people in this country, certainly myself included, might go as far as to say that they love the BBC,” he said.

“What troubled me was that during my three years on the BBC Standards Committee, we kept seeing incipient problems which I thought were not being tackled properly, and indeed I thought the problems were getting worse.”

‘No Ideology at Play’

In spite of his concerns, Prescott said he did not think the BBC was institutionally biased.

“There was no ideology at play, no party politics,” he said.

“If you take the example of the U.S. elections report that came before the committee, if it had found that it had been Kamala Harris misrepresented, not Donald Trump, I would have acted in exactly the same way.”

BBC News reported on Nov. 15 that the broadcaster has set out five main arguments in a letter to Trump’s legal team for why it does not believe there is a basis for a defamation claim.