BBC ‘not institutionally biased’, says ex-journalist who wrote impartiality memo

Michael Prescott raised concerns that a Panorama episode included selective editing of a speech made by US President Donald Trump.

The BBC is not institutionally biased, the author of a leaked memo on impartiality at the corporation has said.

Michael Prescott, a former external adviser to the BBC’s editorial standards committee, faced questions from MPs on Monday after he raised concerns that a Panorama episode included selective editing of a speech made by US President Donald Trump before disorder at the US Capitol in 2021.

Mr Prescott told the Culture, Media and Sport Committee he did not know how his memo, which he had shared to the DCMS and Ofcom, was leaked to the Daily Telegraph.

He said: “At the most fundamental level I wrote that memo, let me be clear, because I am a strong sup