'BBC bosses quit in disgrace' and 'Tears of the crown'
- Published
The resignations at the top of the BBC feature on almost every front page, alongside a slew of critical headlines. "BBC Bosses Quit In Disgrace" says the Daily Mail while "Beeb Boss Quits Over Trump Lies" says the Sun.
According to the Daily Telegraph, the decisions by Tim Davie and Deborah Turness to step down have left the BBC "facing its biggest crisis in more than a decade" with senior MPs demanding a "major shake-up". The Financial Times says the simultaneous departures underline the scale of the problems at the corporation.
The Guardian reports that the resignations have caused "shock" within the BBC, with a source telling the paper it feels like a "coup" and "the result of a campaign by political enemies" of the broadcaster. The Times says insiders have described the fall of the director general as "death by a thousand cuts" after a series of scandals led him to conclude he could no longer continue in the role. But the Telegraph suggests the "blinkered approach" of Tim Davie was his undoing, arguing he was "furious at critics and blind to the problem".
The leader columns and editorials do not hold back. The Daily Express demands an end to what it calls BBC bias, arguing that "across a range of issues it has consistently gone against the majority opinion in the country or breached broadcasting rules". The Guardian says the BBC "needs to fight but it has given in", warning the corporation looked "weak and cowardly" as criticism grew over recent days, "just when it needed to be robust and brave".
With thoughts now turning to who will be the next director general, the Times says three women are the early front-runners to replace Tim Davie. It names them as Jay Hunt, the former controller of BBC1 who now works for Apple TV, Alex Mahon, who was the boss of Channel 4 until July, and Charlotte Moore, who left her role as the BBC's chief content officer earlier this year to become the chief executive of Left Bank Films.
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