Copyright dailymail
Pressure was mounting on the deputy director of the BBC News last night to follow his colleagues out of the door as part of a complete clear out. Despite the impartiality scandal which has rocked the corporation and led to the resignations of director-general Tim Davie and head of news Deborah Turness, her deputy Jonathan Munro remains in post. But a BBC source had told the Daily Mail that Mr Munro was ‘among the most staunch defenders of the doctored Trump footage’ and defended Panorama at a meeting of the BBC’s editorial watchdog in May. He told colleagues, including Michael Prescott, the author of the internal report on impartiality: ‘There was no attempt to mislead the audience about the content or nature of Mr Trump’s speech before the riot at the Capitol. It’s normal practice to edit speeches into short form clips.’ Mr Prescott complained to Samir Shah in his cover letter for the report that Mr Munro had a ‘dismissive attitude’ to the findings about the Trump footage. But despite this, sources argued Mr Munro, who earns £300,000 a year for his BBC role, had effectively ‘seized power’ in the hours following Turness’s resignation even though ‘he is universally loathed.’ ‘He is completely deluded and desperate to take the top job,’ they added. Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said on Sunday night: ‘Let’s be honest, this has been a catalogue of serious failures that runs far deeper. The Prescott report exposed institutional bias that cannot be swept away with two resignations - strong action must be taken on all the issues it raised. The culture at the BBC has not yet changed.’ Mr Munro sent out an all-staff email addressing the crises that has engulfed the corporation’s news division yesterday. He told all BBC-staff that a call will be held on Tuesday, and another meeting for News staff on Wednesday. He wrote: ‘Following events of the last 24 hours, I’m writing alongside the rest of the News Board to acknowledge how difficult this situation is and reassure you that our vital and valued work providing trusted journalism continues.’ He says the coming weeks will be hard but ‘our trusted, impartial and agenda-setting journalism is more important than ever and must continue as our audiences expect.’ Mr Munro also acknowledged the work of outgoing Ms Turness and added: ‘Details are still being worked through about what happens next. Deborah’s successor will be appointed and we’ll share everything we can as soon as we know it.’ He joined the BBC in 2014, after previously working at ITN where he won praise for negotiating the UK’s first televised Prime Ministerial debates in 2010.
