BBC appoints Rachel Jupp as new director of news

Rachel Jupp has been appointed the new director of BBC News, nearly a year after the previous CEO resigned.Deborah Turness announced last November that she would step down from the role following the fallout over how Panorama edited a speech by President Trump.Jupp is a former deputy editor of BBC Two's Newsnight and has also served as Panorama's editor, but left several years before the controversial Trump episode aired.In a statement, Jupp said she was "honoured to be asked to lead BBC News", while the corporation's director-general Matt Brittin described her as "an outstanding editorial leader". The appointment comes as the BBC continues to make sweeping cuts to its news division. Around 550 job closures have been announced so far, with more expected to follow.The BBC as a whole will cut between 1,800 and 2,000 jobs - almost one in 10 - in an attempt to save £500m over two years as it faces "significant financial pressures".In a statement, Brittin said Jupp was "widely regarded for her news judgement, fairness and high standards". "She brings a clarity of vision for the future, and the determined, collaborative approach needed to strengthen BBC News," he added.Jupp joined Channel 4 News in 2005 and served as the programme's head of home news, before moving to the BBC in 2013 to become Newsnight's deputy editor in 2013.She became the editor of Panorama in 2016, a position she held for the next four years.Jupp also served as editorial executive for BBC Content, and more recently has led the BBC's editorial work on generative AI, based in the US.In her statement, Jupp said: "I want to champion our vital, independent and impartial journalism, deepen the trust people have in the BBC and meet our audiences wherever they are. "I'm grateful to Matt for this opportunity, and I'm looking forward to working with our dedicated, brilliant teams across the UK and around the world."The director general said BBC News remained the most used and most trusted news provider around the world and across the UK, but added that it faced significant challenges. "In a world of infinite choice, audiences are fragmenting, trust is scarce and facts are contested," Brittin said. "It is our duty to recommit to the BBC's distinctive journalistic mission while reinventing how we serve audiences, and to rise to these challenges. In Rachel, we have someone who can do both, with a fresh persepctive to lead BBC News into a new era."Jupp's predecessor Turness left the BBC after an internal memo leaked to the Telegraph highlighted that an episode of Panorama broadcast a year earlier had edited a speech by President Trump in a misleading way. In her letter of resignation, Turness said: "While mistakes have been made, I want to be absolutely clear recent allegations that BBC News is institutionally biased are wrong."The BBC's then-director general Tim Davie also resigned over the scandal, and was replaced by Brittin earlier this year.The episode of Panorama spliced together two sections of a speech he delivered in 2021, shortly before the Capitol riots on 6 January. President Trump launched a $10bn (£7.6bn) lawsuit against the BBC after the edit came to light.The BBC apologised and said the edit had given "the mistaken impression that President Trump had made a direct call for violent action", but rejected his demand for compensation.The case is currently scheduled to go to trial in the US in 2027.