Former Google executive Matt Brittin has been confirmed as the BBC's new director-general, The Times reported on Sunday, citing sources.
The BBC board approved Brittin's appointment at a meeting on Thursday, the report said, adding that an official announcement is expected this week.
In January, the BBC said Director-General Tim Davie would step down on 2 April and be temporarily succeeded by Rhodri Talfan Davies, the broadcaster's director of nations, until a permanent replacement was appointed.
Davie announced his resignation in November following widespread criticism of the BBC over the misleading editing of a video clip of US President Donald Trump.
What was the controversy about?
At the centre of the controversy was a clip in the BBC's Panorama programme, which was aired before the 2024 US Presidential election — the edited clip made it appear that Trump had told his supporters to "walk down to the Capitol" and "fight like hell" before the riots of 6 January 2021.
However, it turned out that Trump's "fight like hell" remark was from a different part of his speech, and that he had actually called on Americans to “cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women.”
Shortly after the controversy erupted in November last year, BBC Chair Samir Shah acknowledged that the footage wrongly gave "the impression of a direct call for violent action" by Trump.
Trump's lawsuits against BBC
Trump sued the BBC — "I’m suing the BBC for putting words in my mouth,” the US President said at the time, adding, “Literally, they put words in my mouth. They had me saying things that I never said coming out.”
Subsequently, the US president sued the BBC for defamation, seeking $10 billion in damages, with the case expected to go to trial in February 2027.
However, earlier this month, lawyers for the BBC asked a court in Florida to dismiss Trump's $10 billion lawsuit, arguing that the case would have a detrimental effect on free speech and undermine "robust reporting", Bloomberg reported.
In its request to the court, the BBC argued that a federal court in Florida was not the proper venue for the lawsuit because the Panorama programme in question was not broadcast, streamed, or distributed in the US.
The BBC also argued that its First Amendment right to free speech in the US should not be infringed upon by "groundless litigation" that could stifle reporting on one of the most powerful public figures in the world.
Trump's $10 billion lawsuit is one of several in which the US president or his company have sought at least $50 billion in damages.
“The BBC is liable to President Trump for intentionally and maliciously defaming him by distorting and manipulating his speech. No amount of attempted legal maneuvers can change that fact," a spokesperson for Trump's legal team was quoted as saying by Bloomberg earlier this month.
