License fee and loyalty: The issue of trust for the BBC

By Theo Bevacqua

Only two months ago, Tim Davie was urging the BBC to “adopt a bit of swagger” as it approached charter renewal talks. Now he is calling it quits as Director-General, alongside BBC News chief Deborah Turness, following the fallout from a mis-edited Panorama episode about Donald Trump. A leaked internal memo from former adviser Michael Prescott also flagged impartiality concerns over coverage of the Israel-Gaza conflict and trans-rights reporting, intensifying scrutiny over the BBC’s governance, alleged biases, and funding.

Public sentiment reflects the basis of these resignations: a YouGov poll released yesterday shows 31% see the BBC as left-leaning,19% as right-leaning, and 44% agreeing with the resignations. However, the real concern isn’t about which way the BBC leans - it’s that its impartiality itself is under question. In other words: trust. 

Timing makes this urgent. UK Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy told Parliament’s Culture, Media and Sport Committee that the upcoming charter review is “the most critical of recent decades”, as the government prepares to launch the process before the end of the year. The BBC awaits a green paper.

So how does the BBC fix this? A common argument proposed is to clearly split responsibility: one senior executive to oversee editorial quality and standards, another to manage news production and journalism. The aim is simple: clearer lines of authority; specialisms protected. And when mistakes happen, it should be obvious who is responsible. The various machinations are still emerging, but it seems clear that structural change is a necessity. Former business reporter and presenter at the BBC for over a decade, Richard Griffiths, posits that, “a review of the BBC’s governance arrangements as well as editorial processes now feels essential for reputation to be restored”.

However, deeper questions remain for the embattled public-service broadcaster. Is structural change alone enough to contain the outcry? The government clearly sees it as a pressing issue. Just after the resignation of Tim Davie, Lisa Nandy used X to underline the government’s support for the BBC. She described it as “one of our most important national institutions” and pledged to back the Board through this transition. The messaging is a clear attempt to frame the BBC as a respected institution, evidence that trust isn’t just about internal structure but also about public discourse and reassurance. 

What’s really at stake isn’t just structure or leadership - it’s relevance. The BBC’s authority has always rested on the idea that it stands above politics and reflects the nation back to itself. If trust continues to erode, the danger isn’t just in losing viewers, but in losing that shared space altogether. Rebuilding confidence means proving that public service journalism can still rise above the noise of partisanship and platform algorithms.

Former BBC editor and producer for over 15 years, Dafydd Rees, warns that “the BBC’s greatest threat is the loss of public trust and confidence”. Once a defining part of British identity, he argues, its position is now under pressure in a society that feels “divided, uneasy with change, and in decline”. The broadcaster, he says, remains one of the few institutions capable of addressing that fragmentation - but only if its leaders truly grasp “the scale of the struggle”.

Only time will tell if trust in the BBC can be rebuilt. Swagger on the way to charter renewal has turned into a panicked scramble mired in resignations and controversy, questions over structure and impartiality, and confidence replaced by caution. The Charter Review will show whether the BBC is on a path to reclaiming its footing, or whether this period of unrest will leave a lasting mark.