Enda Brady: Panorama’s Trump clip sparks BBC’s biggest crisis in decades — and a call for radical reform

The Panorama editing scandal has triggered a leadership collapse, a Trump lawsuit, and a reckoning for a broadcaster long seen as untouchable

Outgoing BBC Director-General Tim Davie outside BBC Broadcasting House in London following his resignation. Photo: Lucy North/PA

“FAKE NEWS!” We’ve heard that belligerent Donald Trump cry so many times now that it had almost lost its effect and yet this week it brought the BBC to its knees. Two big-name resignations, reputational battering and billion dollar lawsuit all off the back of one doctored clip.

Just what the hell were they thinking at Panorama? Editing Donald Trump so blatantly to make him appear to say something in a way he never actually said it was appalling journalism. It’s beyond belief that nobody complained a year ago when it was broadcast, that they managed to dodge a bullet for so long. But Trump hit the bullseye this week, big time.