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BBC resignations are result of internal ‘coup’, says former Sun editor
The resignations of the BBC’s director general and its head of news over claims of bias were “a coup” orchestrated from the inside, a former newspaper editor has claimed.
David Yelland, who edited the Sun from 1998 to 2003, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Monday that the departures of Tim Davie and Deborah Turness followed the systematic undermining of them by people close to the BBC board over a lengthy period.
“It was a coup, and worse than that, it was an inside job. There were people inside the BBC, very close to the board … on the board, who have systematically undermined Tim Davie and his senior team over a period of [time] and this has been going on for a long time. What happened yesterday didn’t just happen in isolation,” Yelland, who also co-presents the BBC podcast When it Hits the Fan, said.
“What has happened here is there was a failure of governance. I don’t blame the chairman [Samir Shah] as an individual, but the job of the chair of any organisation, a company – including the BBC – is to keep their CEO, their top man or woman, in post or fire them. And that has not happened, because Tim Davie was not fired. He walked and so there was, that is the definition of, a failure of governance.”
The resignations on Sunday followed days of attacks from the White House and rightwing commentators in the UK that were prompted by claims published by the Daily Telegraph.
The paper reported a leaked record of the findings of a former independent external adviser to its editorial guidelines and standards committee, Michael Prescott, who left his role in the summer.
He had criticised the editing of a speech by Donald Trump in an edition of Panorama, which he claimed made it appear that Trump had encouraged the US Capitol attack. Two sections of the speech that were spliced together were made an hour apart, and the edit did not note that Trump had also said he wanted his supporters to demonstrate peacefully.
Yelland’s criticisms echo a mood of dismay described by sources within BBC News on Sunday night, with one saying: “It feels like a coup. This is the result of a campaign by political enemies of the BBC.”
Others, including Sky’s former political editor Adam Boulton, have said the overall impression that Trump egged on the insurrection was fundamentally true. It is not unusual practice to edit together sections of a long speech to accurately summarise it.
Davie said his departure would not be immediate and that he was “working through” timings to ensure an “orderly transition” over the coming months. Turness said controversy around the Panorama edit had “reached a stage where it is causing damage to the BBC – an institution that I love”.
On Monday, the BBC journalist Nick Robinson said there had been paralysis at the top of the BBC because, while its senior journalists wanted to apologise for the editing error – but insist there was “no intention to mislead” the audience – the politically appointed directors wanted to go further.
Shah is expected to apologise on Monday to the Commons’ culture, media and sport committee, and to provide further details on the Panorama episode in his response to the Commons culture media and sport committee, which had asked how he would address the concerns.
Speaking after the resignations, the government minister Louise Sandher-Jones rejected suggestions the BBC was institutionally biased. The veterans minister told Sky News: “When you look at the huge range of domestic issues, local issues, international issues, that it has to cover, I think its output is very trusted. When I speak to people who’ve got very strongly held views on those, they’re still using the BBC for a lot of their information, it’s forming their views on this.”
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Map: 7.0-Magnitude Earthquake Shakes Alaska
Note: Map shows the area with a shake intensity of 4 or greater, which U.S.G.S. defines as “light,” though the earthquake may be felt outside the areas shown. The New York Times
A major, 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck near the Alaska-Canada border on Saturday, according to the United States Geological Survey.
The temblor happened at 11:41 a.m. Alaska time about 56 miles north of Yakutat, Alaska, data from the agency shows.
U.S.G.S. data earlier reported that the magnitude was 6.7.
As seismologists review available data, they may revise the earthquake’s reported magnitude. Additional information collected about the earthquake may also prompt U.S.G.S. scientists to update the shake-severity map.
Aftershocks in the region
An aftershock is usually a smaller earthquake that follows a larger one in the same general area. Aftershocks are typically minor adjustments along the portion of a fault that slipped at the time of the initial earthquake.
Quakes and aftershocks within 100 miles
Aftershocks can occur days, weeks or even years after the first earthquake. These events can be of equal or larger magnitude to the initial earthquake, and they can continue to affect already damaged locations.
When quakes and aftershocks occurred
Source: United States Geological Survey | Notes: Shaking categories are based on the Modified Mercalli Intensity scale. When aftershock data is available, the corresponding maps and charts include earthquakes within 100 miles and seven days of the initial quake. All times above are Alaska time. Shake data is as of Saturday, Dec. 6 at 3:57 p.m. Eastern. Aftershocks data is as of Saturday, Dec. 6 at 7:26 p.m. Eastern.
Maps: Daylight (urban areas); MapLibre (map rendering); Natural Earth (roads, labels, terrain); Protomaps (map tiles)
News
National Park Service drops free admission on MLK Day, Juneteenth while adding Trump’s birthday
WASHINGTON (AP) — The National Park Service will offer free admission to U.S. residents on President Donald Trump’s birthday next year — which also happens to be Flag Day — but is eliminating the benefit for Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth.
The new list of free admission days for Americans is the latest example of the Trump administration downplaying America’s civil rights history while also promoting the president’s image, name and legacy.
Last year, the list of free days included Martin Luther King Jr Day and Juneteenth — which is June 19 — but not June 14, Trump’s birthday.
The new free-admission policy takes effect Jan. 1 and was one of several changes announced by the Park Service late last month, including higher admission fees for international visitors.
The other days of free park admission in 2026 are Presidents Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Constitution Day, Veterans Day, President Theodore Roosevelt’s birthday (Oct. 27) and the anniversary of the creation of the Park Service (Aug. 25).
Eliminating Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth, which commemorates the day in 1865 when the last enslaved Americans were emancipated, removes two of the nation’s most prominent civil rights holidays.
Some civil rights leaders voiced opposition to the change after news about it began spreading over the weekend.
“The raw & rank racism here stinks to high heaven,” Harvard Kennedy School professor Cornell William Brooks, a former president of the NAACP, wrote on social media about the new policy.
Kristen Brengel, a spokesperson for the National Parks Conservation Association, said that while presidential administrations have tweaked the free days in the past, the elimination of Martin Luther King Jr. Day is particularly concerning. For one, the day has become a popular day of service for community groups that use the free day to perform volunteer projects at parks.
That will now be much more expensive, said Brengel, whose organization is a nonprofit that advocates for the park system.
“Not only does it recognize an American hero, it’s also a day when people go into parks to clean them up,” Brengel said. “Martin Luther King Jr. deserves a day of recognition … For some reason, Black history has repeatedly been targeted by this administration, and it shouldn’t be.”
Some Democratic lawmakers also weighed in to object to the new policy.
“The President didn’t just add his own birthday to the list, he removed both of these holidays that mark Black Americans’ struggle for civil rights and freedom,” said Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada. “Our country deserves better.”
A spokesperson for the National Park Service did not immediately respond to questions on Saturday seeking information about the reasons behind the changes.
Since taking office, Trump has sought to eliminate programs seen as promoting diversity across the federal government, actions that have erased or downplayed America’s history of racism as well as the civil rights victories of Black Americans.
Self-promotion is an old habit of the president’s and one he has continued in his second term. He unsuccessfully put himself forward for the Nobel Peace Prize, renamed the U.S. Institute of Peace after himself, sought to put his name on the planned NFL stadium in the nation’s capital and had a new children’s savings program named after him.
Some Republican lawmakers have suggested putting his visage on Mount Rushmore and the $100 bill.
News
A 3-D Look at Trump’s Proposed White House Ballroom
The ballroom design featured 50-foot ceilings, arched windows on three sides and skylights. It included elevated terraced walkways wrapping on two sides of the building, and a main visitors’ entrance on the east.
An enclosed passageway above the east colonnade connected the White House residence to the ballroom on the second floor.
Though the design proposed by McCrery Architects would have dwarfed the rest of the White House complex, Mr. Trump wanted to go even bigger.
Mr. Trump’s vision is to build a ballroom more than twice as large as the one shown here in the proposal by McCrery Architects.
Mr. Trump has said that the ballroom — which is expected to cost $300 million — would not be paid for by taxpayers. He said that he has already raised $350 million from donors, including from major tech and crypto companies.
Davis R. Ingle, a White House spokesman, said in a statement that Shalom Baranes Associates, which is based in Washington, D.C., would join “a team of experts to carry out President Trump’s vision on building what will be the greatest addition to the White House since the Oval Office.”
A White House official said that McCrery Architects would continue to serve as a “valuable consultant” on the project.
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