BBC bias row: how a week of hostile headlines from rightwing media led to resignations

Rightwing media have published a series of attacks on the corporation after a memo from a former BBC adviser critical of its output

The row over bias at the BBC has been led by its rightwing critics in the media, who have kept up a drip-drip of stories and interviews with politicians similarly hostile to the broadcaster.

This began when the Telegraph reported that a memo by Michael Prescott, a former external adviser to the BBC’s editorial standards committee, had raised concerns about impartiality, including how a speech by Donald Trump was edited in an episode of Panorama.

Here we look at how the row unfolded …

The Daily Telegraph publishes an article on its front page under the headline “BBC’s Trump bias exposed in memo leak”. The article alleged that the BBC “doctored” a speech by Trump to make it appear he was encouraging the Capitol Hill riot. It cited “an internal whistleblowing memo” penned by Prescott, who left the BBC’s editorial standards committee in June, which included details from a series of internal reports.