Broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby has defended the BBC by pointing to who the most vocal critics of the corporation are.
On Sunday, director general Tim Davie and BBC News CEO Deborah Turness both announced their resignations, following criticism over a the way a Panorama documentary edited Donald Trump’s infamous January 6 speech in 2021.
A leaked 19-page memo on impartiality by Michael Prescott, a former external adviser to the BBC’s editorial standards committee, ruled the broadcaster gave the impression that he told supporters he would march with them to the US Capitol to “fight like hell.”
Trump has subsequently threatened to sue the BBC for $1bn in damages if the corporation doesn’t issue a full apology and retraction of the programme.
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America isn’t the only foreign power to have attacked the BBC.
A statement from Israel’s London embassy on Monday stated: “For years, we have repeatedly warned about the BBC’s consistent failures to uphold the standards of accuracy, impartiality, and integrity expected from a public broadcaster.”
Meanwhile, the Russian embassy shared a post on X on Tuesday which said BBC journalists “manipulate facts & censor information that does not align with their partisan editorial stance.”
It added: “Ideological dogma has replaced journalistic ethics there, distorting the very principles of media independence & freedom of information.”
Following all this, former BBC journalist Jonathan Dimbleby has suggested criticism from states run by Putin, Trump and Netanyahu might be the perfect defence for the corporation.
Speaking to LBC, he said: “If you’ve got the combination of Netanyahu, Putin and Trump denouncing the BBC, there must be something quite good about it.”
He continued: “The one salvation of the BBC will be that as we gain a little bit more perspective, people will recognise that it is actually the most trusted and impartial broadcasting institution in the world.”