LONDON (AP) — Former Google executive Matt Brittin was named as the BBC's new director-general on Wednesday, taking the helm at the U.K.’s national broadcaster as it faces an uncertain future and a $10 billion lawsuit from U.S. President Donald Trump.
Brittin, 57, who has a background in tech, rather than traditional broadcasting, spent almost two decades at Google, becoming the company’s president in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. He is also a former consultant at management consultancy McKinsey,
BBC Chairman Samir Shah said Brittin brings a “deep experience of leading a high-profile and highly complex organization through transformation” and arrives as the BBC faces “radical reform.”
Brittin said the 104-year-old BBC is “an extraordinary, uniquely British asset.”
“Now, more than ever, we need a thriving BBC that works for everyone in a complex, uncertain and fast changing world,” he said in a statement.
Brittin, who will start his new role on May 18, succeeds Tim Davie, who resigned in November over criticism of how the broadcaster edited a speech Trump made on Jan. 6, 2021, before some of the president's supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol.
A BBC documentary aired days before the 2024 presidential election spliced together three quotes from the speech into what appeared to be one quote in which Trump urged supporters to march with him and “fight like hell.”
Trump is suing the broadcaster for defamation in a Florida court, accusing the BBC of broadcasting a “false, defamatory, deceptive, disparaging, inflammatory, and malicious depiction” of him, and of “a brazen attempt to interfere in and influence” the 2024 presidential election.
Shah has apologized to Trump over the edited speech, admitting that it gave “the impression of a direct call for violent action.” But the BBC rejects claims it defamed the president and has asked the federal court in the Southern District of Florida to dismiss the suit, arguing that the case could have a “chilling effect” on robust reporting on public figures and events. It also says the case should be thrown out because the documentary was never aired in Florida or the U.S.
The broadcaster is also facing a once-a-decade process of renewing its governing charter, which sets out how much public money it will receive. The BBC is funded by an annual license fee — currently set at 174.50 pounds ($230) — which is paid by all U.K. households who watch live TV or any BBC content.
The license fee has long had opponents, not least rival commercial broadcasters, and they have grown louder in an era of digital streaming when many people no longer have television sets or follow traditional TV schedules.
The center-left Labour government says it will ensure the BBC has “sustainable and fair” funding but has not ruled out replacing the license fee with another funding model.
Brittin said the BBC faces “a moment of real risk, yet also real opportunity.”
He added: “The BBC needs the pace and energy to be both where stories are, and where audiences are. To build on the reach, trust and creative strengths today, confront challenges with courage, and thrive as a public service fit for the future. I can’t wait to start this work.”
Founded in 1922 as a radio service, the BBC operates 15 U.K. national and regional TV channels, several international channels, 10 national radio stations, dozens of local radio stations, the globe-spanning World Service radio and copious digital output, including the iPlayer streaming service.
It broadcasts reams of sports and entertainment programming, including shows such as “Doctor Who,” “EastEnders,” “The Traitors” and “Strictly Come Dancing.”
But it’s the BBC’s news output that draws the most scrutiny. The broadcaster is bound by the terms of its charter to be impartial in its output and is frequently a political football, with conservatives seeing a leftist slant in its news programs and some liberals accusing it of having a conservative bias.
The BBC is seeking a new chief executive to lead its news and current affairs division after Deborah Turness quit alongside Davie in November.
FILE - President of EMEA Business and Operations for Google, Matt Brittin is seen at the London headquarters of Google and YouTube in King's Cross, London, Thursday, Nov. 16, 2017. (Tolga Akmen/Pool Photo via AP, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Air travelers are experiencing the highest wait times ever under the Transportation Security Administration, the agency's acting head told Congress on Wednesday, as the latest offer to end a funding impasse and put restraints on President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda met fierce resistance.
The TSA's Ha Nguyen McNeill described the mounting hardships facing unpaid airport workers — piling up bills and eviction notices, even plasma donations to make ends meet — and warned that lawmakers must ensure "this never happens again."
“This is a dire situation,” she said.
Yet on the 40th day of the standoff involving the Department of Homeland Security, there was no easy way out in sight. Neither Republican senators, who made the latest offer, nor Democrats, who are demanding more changes in immigration enforcement, appeared closer to a compromise.
Trump, who initially appeared to have given his nod to the deal, has declined to lend it his full support or put his political weight behind making sure it is approved.
Top officials at agencies under the DHS umbrella spoke at a hearing of the House Homeland Security Committee about the potential risks of security lapses unless the partial government shutdown comes to an end.
DHS has gone without routine funding since mid-February. Democrats are insisting on changes to the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement and mass deportation operations after the killings of two citizens in Minneapolis by federal officers during protests.
The latest proposal would fund most of DHS except for the enforcement and removal operations of U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement that have been central to the debate. The plan would cover other aspects of ICE as well as Customs and Border Protection.
While the offer added some new restraints on immigration officers, including the use of body cameras, it excluded other policies that Democrats have demanded.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said they needed to see real changes. House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York pressed for “bold” changes at ICE.
Republican leaders said Democrats are putting the country at risk.
“They know this is crazy," said House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.
But conservative Republicans also panned the proposal, demanding full funding for immigration operations and skeptical of the promise from GOP leaders that they would address Trump's proof-of-citizenship voting bill in a subsequent legislative package.
McNeill, the acting TSA administrator, told lawmakers that multiple airports are experiencing greater than 40% callout rates and more than 480 transportation security officers have now quit during the shutdown.
She cited the growing financial strain on the TSA workforce.
“Some are sleeping in their cars, selling their blood and plasma, and taking on second jobs to make ends meet, all while being expected to perform at the highest level when in uniform to protect the traveling public,” she said.
McNeil also said TSA officers working at the nation’s airports have experienced a more than 500% increase in the frequency of assaults since the shutdown began.
“This is unacceptable and it will not be tolerated,” McNeill said.
The top executive over Houston’s airport said security lines that have travelers waiting four hours or more could get longer if the political impasse was not soon settled.
Lines that twist and turn across multiple floors at George Bush Intercontinental Airport have been the result of TSA only being able to staff one-third to one-half the usual number of checkpoint lines, said Jim Szczesniak, aviation director for Houston’s airport system.
Trump’s decision to send ICE agents to the airports risks inflaming the situation, lawmakers have said. Video footage of federal officers detaining a crying woman at San Francisco International Airport drew outrage Monday from local officials, although it was unrelated to Trump's order to deploy immigration officers.
FEMA's Disaster Relief Fund is “rapidly depleting,” Victoria Barton, a FEMA external affairs official, told lawmakers.
FEMA is able to continue its disaster response and recovery work as long as that fund has money, and about 10,000 of its disaster workers continue being paid through it.
Associated Press writers Wyatte Grantham-Philips in New York, Russ Bynum in Houston and Gabriela Aoun Angueira in San Diego contributed to this report.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., speaks during a news conference at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, March 25, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Passengers and their bags are screened at a security checkpoint at George Bush Intercontinental Airport, Wednesday, March 25, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Passengers wait in a security checkpoint line at George Bush Intercontinental Airport, Wednesday, March 25, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Passengers wait in a security checkpoint line at George Bush Intercontinental Airport, Wednesday, March 25, 2026, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
