EXCLUSIVE: BBC employees’ confidence in the UK broadcaster’s leaders has taken a significant hit after a string of editorial scandals in 2025, including the bust-up with Donald Trump.
In internal communication this week, the BBC revealed the findings of its staff survey, some of which were leaked to Deadline. The research showed that only 34% of workers said they had confidence in the BBC’s executive leadership team.
The 34% figure was down 12 percentage points on the 46% recorded in the 2025 staff survey and was the lowest score during the five-year tenure of ex-director general Tim Davie, who resigned after a BBC Panorama documentary misleadingly edited Trump’s January 6 speech. BBC News CEO Deborah Turness also quit.
BBC staff confidence in leadership dropped to 35% in 2023, when the corporation was rocked by allegations of misconduct against Huw Edwards, then the country’s highest-profile news anchor. It was also the year in which BBC chair Richard Sharp resigned amid controversy over his links to Boris Johnson, the former prime minister.
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Elsewhere in the survey, fewer than half of staff (43%) said they were “excited” about the BBC’s future, while only 39% agreed that the broadcaster is in a “position to really succeed over the next three years.”
Scores were higher in other areas. Some 72% said they believed in the BBC’s “strategy to deliver value for all audiences,” and 71% said the corporation’s products and services were a match for rivals.
A BBC spokesperson said: “Our annual staff survey is an important way to understand and track views on a range of issues related to the BBC. These responses do fluctuate and reflect what is going on both in and outside the organisation. Unsurprisingly, confidence in leadership was impacted by the events of recent months and two high-profile resignations.
“However, the survey finds the overwhelming majority of staff are proud to work at the BBC and it will be our people, including a new director-general, working to our values and creating a positive culture, that will drive the organisation forward to deliver for audiences.”
The Trump debacle — which resulted in the U.S. president suing the BBC — was the final straw for Davie, who nearly quit months earlier when the BBC live-streamed Glastonbury act Bob Vylan chanting “death to the IDF.” This followed the BBC broadcasting documentary Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone, which was narrated by the child of a Hamas minister.
Davie was far from an unpopular leader and many were sad to see him leave, not least the BBC board, but insiders were worn down by the consistency of crises on his watch. One person summed up his final months like this: “He excels at crisis management — crises often of his own making.”
Davie will be replaced by Matt Brittin on May 18, though the ex-Google executive has already made his presence felt on BBC premises, introducing himself to staff ahead of his official start date.
BBC chair Samir Shah has said Brittin has the credentials to help restore confidence in the corporation’s leadership. “Matt brings to the BBC deep experience of leading a high-profile and highly complex organisation through transformation,” Shah said last month.