Over the past few weeks, there has been intense debate over whether the BBC is fulfilling its mission, particularly with regard to impartial coverage.
It follows a scandal over the editing of a speech by Donald Trump, which has prompted the US President to threaten billion-dollar legal action.
The mission of the BBC is: "To act in the public interest, serving all audiences through the provision of impartial, high-quality and distinctive output and services which inform, educate and entertain".
Crisis of trust
The resignations of the Director General Tim Davie and CEO of News Deborah Turness were prompted by the leak of a memo from a former BBC editorial adviser, the contents of which led to accusations of bias, even institutional bias, within the corporation.
It contained details of an edited Panorama clip which, according to the BBC itself, "gave the mistaken impression that President Trump had made a direct call for violent action" on 6 January 2020.
However, recent days have also seen the BBC accused of 'bending the knee" to Trump, with historian Rutger Bregman claiming that the corporation deleted a line from a lecture he delivered for BBC Radio 4.
It was part of the Reith Lectures which are a series commissioned by the BBC every year.
On Instagram, Mr Bregman accused the corporation of removing a line in his first lecture where he alleged that Mr Trump was the "most openly corrupt president in American history".
In its coverage of the fallout, the BBC refuses to repeat the line on legal advice.
The corporation finds itself the subject of criticism from people across the political spectrum. It’s been accused of both treating Mr Trump unfairly and also running scared of him.
All of which contributes to a growing fear that trust in one of the world’s biggest news brands is being further eroded.
Not institutionally biased
The BBC found itself at the top of the news agenda at the start of the week, as the corporation’s board and others appeared before MPs on the Westminster Culture and Media Committee.
Their appearance followed the resignations of Mr Davie and Ms Turness.
The committee heard from Michael Prescott, the former editorial advisor who wrote the memo criticising various elements of the BBC’s coverage.
His criticism ranged from BBC Arabic’s coverage of the war in Gaza to transgender issues and coverage of Mr Trump.
The leaked memo was the spark that ignited the recent crisis which centred mostly on the Panorama episode featuring an edit of Mr Trump's 6 January speech.
Mr Prescott insisted that he was not seeking to undermine the BBC when he wrote the memo. "I am a strong supporter of the BBC", he told MPs
He also insisted that his criticism was not part of a right-wing attack on the corporation, as some have alleged. "I’m a centrist dad", he said.
Mr Prescott also pushed back against accusations that the corporation was institutionally biased. He explained that his memo was written with the intention of ensuring an "incipient" problem within the organisation was addressed.
BBC 'not in safe hands'
Chair of the BBC Samir Shah also appeared before MPs on Monday.
However, the head of the culture select committee was not impressed by his performance.
Caroline Dinenage told BBC radio that she was concerned about a lack of "grip at the heart of BBC governance".
Mr Shah insisted that he would not be stepping down from his role. "My job now is to steady the ship, put it on even keel," he told MPs.
However, Ms Dinenage expressed concern that he "didn't really have direct answers on the questions of how to get the BBC to act quicker, act more decisively", following claims that it was slow to address concerns over the Panorama programme.
"We were really looking for hard evidence that the BBC board are going to grip this... I'm not entirely convinced that they can and they will," Ms Dinenage explained.
While disappointed by Mr Shahs’ performance, Caroline Dinenage has also said that now is not the time for the chairman to resign, given the instability the BBC has already experienced.
Mr Shah’s appearance before the committee came before Rutger Bregman went public with his accusation that the BBC had removed a line about Mr Trump from the Reith lecture.
It has added further fuel to an already unwieldy fire that the corporation is struggling to put out.
Rutger Bregman’s accusations
In his Instagram post, Rutger Bregman alleged that the BBC was "bending the knee" to authoritarianism.
"When institutions start censoring themselves because they’re scared of those in power, that is the moment we all need to pay attention," he told his social media followers.
Mr Trump has threatened the BBC with a multi-billion dollar lawsuit over the Panorama programme. The corporation has apologised over the episode but refused to pay the US President compensation.
Mr Bregman said that BBC was afraid of Mr Trump. The historian told his followers that the BBC had been discussing his lectures with lawyers in the US before ultimately deciding to remove the sentence alleging open corruption by Mr Trump.
"The irony could not be bigger because this lecture, titled ‘A time of Monsters’, is exactly about the cowardice of today’s elites.
"About universities, corporations, yes, media networks, bending the knee to authoritarianism," Mr Bregman said.
A BBC spokesperson said that "all of our programmes are required to comply with the BBC’s editorial guidelines, and we made the decision to remove one sentence from the lecture on legal advice".
A crisis with no immediate end
Many of the BBC's harshest critics agree that it is an organisation worth protecting. However, there are different views on what a future BBC should look like.
The organisation is now in the process of recruiting a new director general. There will also be a deputy-director general, the intention being that they will focus on journalism.
However this process will take time. Doubt around the position of the BBC chairperson also continues. Such leadership uncertainty is not helpful for an organisation undergoing such scrutiny.
The BBC crisis is set to continue for some time to come.
