The director general of the BBC, Tim Davie, and the chief executive of news, Deborah Turness, have resigned following criticism that a BBC documentary misled viewers by editing a speech by US President Donald Trump during an episode of Panorama.
"This is entirely my decision, and I remain very thankful to the Chair and Board for their unswerving and unanimous support throughout my entire tenure, including during recent days," Mr Davie said in a statement.
"I have been reflecting on the very intense personal and professional demands of managing this role over many years in these febrile times, combined with the fact that I want to give a successor time to help shape the Charter plans they will be delivering."
BBC chairman Samir Shah said it "is a sad day for the BBC" following Tim Davie's resignation.
He said: "Tim has been an outstanding director-general for the last five years. He has propelled the BBC forward with determination, single-mindedness and foresight.
"He has had the full support of me and the board throughout. However, I understand the continued pressure on him, personally and professionally, which has led him to take this decision today. The whole board respects the decision and the reasons for it."
In a social media post, US President Donlad Trump welcomed the resignations at the BBC.
Mr Trump praised the Telegraph newspaper for 'exposing' what he described as 'corrupt journalists' in the broadcaster.
The resignations come after a UK government minister described as "incredibly serious" allegations over the way the BBC edited clips of US President Donald Trump in a flagship documentary programme.
The comments by Culture, Media and Sport Minister Lisa Nandy came as the broadcaster said its chair Samir Shah would provide an explanation to a parliamentary committee tomorrow.
Media outlets, including the BBC, reported that the response was expected to include an apology.
The concerns regard clips spliced together from sections of the US president's speech on 6 January, 2021 that made it appear he told supporters he was going to walk to the US Capitol with them and "fight like hell".
In the undoctored clip, however, the president urged the audience to walk with him "and we're going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women".
At the time, Mr Trump was still disputing President Joe Biden's election victory, in the vote which saw him ousted after his first term in office.
"The BBC chairman will provide a full response to the Culture, Media and Sport Committee on Monday," a BBC spokesperson said.
The edit was included in a documentary entitled "Trump: A Second Chance?", which was broadcast by the BBC the week before last year's US election.
'Bias' allegation
Ms Nandy said the Trump edit was one of a number of concerns about editorial standards at the BBC.
"It isn't just about the Panorama programme, although that is incredibly serious, there are a series of very serious allegations made, the most serious of which is that there is systemic bias in the way that difficult issues are reported at the BBC," she told BBC television in an interview.
Ms Nandy added that she was concerned about a tendency for editorial standards and the language used in reports to be "entirely inconsistent" whether it be on "Israel, Gaza... trans people or on this issue about President Trump".
The licence fee-funded broadcaster earlier this year issued several apologies for "serious flaws" in the making of another documentary, "Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone", broadcast in February.
In October it accepted a sanction from the UK media watchdog for the "materially misleading" programme whose child narrator was later revealed to be the son of Hamas's former deputy minister of agriculture.
Additional reporting AFP
