It is tempting to view the sudden resignation of two top BBC executives on Sunday evening, in the wake of scathing criticism by the Trump administration, as an extraterritorial example of the intense pressure that President Trump has put on broadcast news organizations in the United States. But the British Broadcasting Corporation is not CBS or ABC, both of which settled lawsuits brought by Mr. Trump over their coverage of him. Its current crisis — the gravest the BBC has faced in decades — is less about Mr. Trump, experts said, than about the insoluble tensions of a renowned public service broadcaster operating in a bitterly divided political and media world. Vilified by political enemies, who accuse it of chronic bias — in this case, to the left — and targeted by rival media firms, who resent its public funding, the BBC is a perennial football in Britain’s political contests. With its global reach, it regularly runs afoul of foreign governments as well, from India to the United States.

Source: The Times November 11, 2025 01:06 UTC