Susanna Reid sparks fury with 'laughable' defence of BBC as Richard Madeley ITV GMB clash explodes over Trump scandal: 'Showed her true colours!'

The newest scandal engulfing the BBC that ultimately led to their resignations centred on a doctored clip of President Donald Trump in a Panorama documentary broadcast on the channel.

The editing of two separate clips of Trump has been deemed by many to have intentionally misled viewers and led to claims of "systemic bias" at the BBC. Mr Davie said he took "ultimate responsibility" for the mistakes made.

Ms Turness similarly took accountability, before adding: "I'd like to make one thing very clear - BBC News is not institutionally biased."

Kicking off the ITV breakfast show on Monday, it was inevitable that the BBC resignations were going to take centre stage, although it soon became clear that Ms Reid and Ms Madeley had opposing views on whether it was the right course of action.

Ms Reid said to her co-star: "Right, I’m going to stand up for the BBC this morning. I worked there for 20 years. It’s in my DNA as much as ITV is."

"How are you going to defend the Panorama edit?" a curious Mr Madeley replied, to which Ms Reid answered: "I’m going to say that Panorama — we have not seen the whole documentary because they’ve taken it down. Many people did see the documentary, of course, because it went out last October. I don’t remember criticism at the time of the Panorama documentary.

"And any of us making that kind of report would have put an obvious edit in between the two things that Donald Trump said. Because let’s not forget, he said both of those things-" Ms Reid went on, only for Mr Madeley to interject: "In totally different contexts."

"In the same speech, just before the Capitol Hill riots," Ms Reid argued, to which Mr Madeley fired back: "Hang on, but separated by almost an hour. And the quote at the very end of the speech, when he says, 'We fight and we fight' — he wasn’t talking about Capitol Hill at all there. He was talking about his completely fallacious accusation that the election had been stolen.

"He wasn’t talking about a march on Capitol Hill. And I’m sorry, but like you, I’ve sat in news edit suites thousands of times in my career-" Mr Madeley went on, only for Ms Reid to interrupt to highlight that Panorama was technically a documentary.

"Alright, it’s a documentary. It’s a news documentary," Mr Madeley conceded. "Panorama is a news documentary programme-"

Ms Reid cut in again, this time to admit: "But as you can hear from the music underneath the edit, it’s obviously building a drama. It’s misleading. He didn’t say those two things at the same time. And the edit should have been made obvious."

Mr Madeley then jumped in to question why the edit needed to be made in the first place, given the duration of time between the two Trump quotes that sparked the scandal.

Ms Reid stood firm: "We don’t know because we can’t see the documentary. I didn’t see the documentary when it went out. None of us can watch the documentary now to judge it."

An undeterred Mr Madeley shot back: "If there was a defence for that, it would have been made last week. It would have been made last week by the BBC, and they haven’t said a word."

Ms Reid argued: "My defence is not of the documentary. My defence is of the BBC. 21,000 people work for the BBC. To think that the director-general has to be responsible for the output of all those 21,000 people is simply unrealistic.

"I understand why the Head of News has resigned. Because this was on her watch. I can totally understand that she carries the can. She said herself in her resignation letter, the buck stops with me. But the Director-General going over a misleading edit on Panorama, I find extraordinary."

Mr Madeley wasn't going to let Ms Reid's explanation go unanswered. "It is more than a misleading edit. This is the President of the United States being grievously misrepresented by the flagship documentary programme of the BBC," he highlighted.

"You know he was the subject of an impeachment for inciting those riots?" Ms Reid sniped, to which Mr Madeley promptly hit back: "Yes, and actually he was cleared. We may not like that... I am not defending Donald Trump."

When Ms Reid read aloud the number of US senators who sought to convict the President, Mr Madeley emphatically pointed out: "But that doesn’t entitle you to bend the truth!"

Ms Reid agreed before Mr Madeley turned his attention to Mr Davie specifically. "He absolutely should have resigned because his lack of any commentary last week in the face of this criticism, if there was a defence to be made of that edit of the kind that you put forward this morning, he should have made it. He didn’t. He stayed completely silent," Mr Madeley pointed out.

Ms Reid fired back at her co-host for "misrepresenting" her argument, claiming she never defended the edit but was instead defending the BBC as a whole.

"Do you think that the Head of ITV should now resign because you said that I was defending the edit when I didn’t defend the edit? I’m defending the BBC," she proudly said.

"Okay, I’ll amend the word defend. There we go. Right," Mr Madeley said before the two wrapped the segment up by "agreeing to differ" on the situation.

The pair's rather heated exchange quickly garnered reaction from viewers at home, with X users overwhelmingly taking to the social media platform to applaud Mr Madeley for his position while criticising Ms Reid's continued defence of the corporation.

"I hate GMB but I watch if Richard Madley is on because he gives proper balance, he's got his work cut out this morning, GO RICHARD," one of Mr Madeley's supporters typed, while a second weighed in: "Oh dear, this all got a bit feisty between Richard & Susanna, how dare he disagree with 'the queen' of @GMB? Something tells me he might be putting in a sicky tomorrow."

A third echoed: "Watching Susanna Reid trying to defend her mates and political allies at the BBC on this was laughable, this is why free speech is important ppl, You get to see what people really think, and today blew away an illusion that Susanna Reid is impartial."

The Director General of the BBC, Tim Davie and the head of BBC News, Deborah Turness, have resigned following claims the Panorama programme doctored a speech by Donald Trump.

The US President has welcomed the news of their resignations himself on social media. But this has come… pic.twitter.com/SKktlvNE15

— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) November 10, 2025

Meanwhile, a fourth also took aim at Ms Reid's defence: "Madeley sitting there talking about the BBC and its impartiality, then @susannareid100 saying she is sticking up for the BBC because she worked there.

"Yep that sounds about right. How can anyone support a doctored video about an such important subject. Speaking of impartiality."

"Crikey, Susannah showed her true colours. Well done Richard for standing your ground," a fifth argued, before a sixth similarly put: "What on earth is wrong with @susannareid100? Defending the indefensible. The BBC and their long list of sickening employees.When she said oh he can't be held responsible for 21,000 employees. Thats the job! The buck stops at the top. And she's being more stuck up than usual."

Elsewhere, a seventh fumed: "Entitled GMB (supposedly unbiased) presenters out of control!! @susannareid100 totally trying to shout down @richardm56!! And where's the apology and sacking of Adil Ray!!????"

And another added to the debate: "Susanna should go back to the BBC as she’s clearly ok with their ethics and is completely biased. How many more news clips have they fiddled with? Clearly more bothered about her old mate’s jobs, but ok that we’re funding a corporation rotten to the core."

However, there were a few supporters who felt Ms Reid got the better of her co-host. "@GMB Susanna won that argument with Madeley as per usual, talking rubbish. And tell him to stop pointing, it's rude," one X user waded into the debate. (sic)