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)
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The death toll from a Russian missile attack that flattened a Kyiv apartment building rose Friday to 24, including three teenagers, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said as he led the mourning for one of the deadliest attacks on the capital in the 4-year-old war.
The cruise missile hit the nine-story corner apartment block Thursday during what the Ukrainian air force said was Russia’s biggest barrage on the country of the full-scale invasion. Emergency workers finished digging through the rubble searching for victims after more than a day, Zelenskyy said on X.
Crowds of grieving people — many of them children — streamed toward a makeshift memorial beneath a tree near the destroyed building.
Teenagers clutching bouquets arrived in groups and broke into tears as they approached the growing mound of flowers and stuffed toys beside photographs of the dead. A portrait of a girl in a school uniform, posed against a bright yellow backdrop, was among the photos.
Zelenskyy and other top government officials visited the site to pay tribute to the dead, as did Kyiv-based foreign diplomats.
Russia has hammered Ukraine with large-scale aerial attacks in the days since a May 9-11 ceasefire that U.S. President Donald Trump said he asked Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin to observe. Fighting continued over those 72 hours, although reportedly on a lesser scale.
This week’s attacks ran counter to recent suggestions from Trump and Putin that the war is close to ending.
The assault mostly targeted the Ukrainian capital, where 48 people were wounded, including two children, Zelenskyy said.
He said Moscow had launched more than 1,560 drones against Ukrainian population centers since Wednesday, adding that about 180 sites across the country were damaged, including more than 50 residential buildings.
Previously, the biggest Russian drone attack was on March 23-24 when Moscow’s forces fired nearly 1,000 drones and missiles at Ukraine. Thursday's death toll in Kyiv approached one from July 2024 that killed 32 civilians and injured another 85.
Ukraine has also built up significant long-range capabilities, and Russia’s Defense Ministry said Friday that its air defenses downed 355 Ukrainian drones overnight in one of the largest barrages of the war. Several airports suspended flights overnight because of the attacks.
A Ukrainian drone struck Ryazan, a city about 100 kilometers (60 miles) southeast of Moscow, killed four people, including a child, regional Gov. Pavel Malkov said. Massive plumes of black smoke rose from a fire at an oil refinery. Ukraine has targeted Russian oil facilities to try to deny vital revenue for Moscow and rattle the Kremlin.
Ukrainian officials made no immediate comment on the Ryazan strike.
The cruise missile that hit the Kyiv apartment building was built in the second quarter of this year, Zelenskyy said, apparently after Ukrainian experts analyzed the wreckage.
“This means Russia is still importing the components, resources and equipment necessary for missile production in circumvention of global sanctions,” he said in another post on X late Thursday. “Stopping Russia’s sanctions evasion schemes must be a genuine priority for all our partners.”
Also on Friday, Russia and Ukraine swapped 205 prisoners of war, one of an occasional exchange.
Zelenskyy said it was the first phase of a planned swap of 1,000 POWs from each side. Some of the Ukrainians have been held by Russia since 2022 and fought in some of the war’s fiercest battles, he added.
Russia’s Defense Ministry confirmed the exchange and thanked the United Arab Emirates for helping to broker it.
Hatton reported from Lisbon, Portugal.
Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Family photo albums are seen near a heavily damaged house after a Russian strike on a residential neighbourhood in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, May 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
People lay flowers in front of a house heavily damaged after a Russian strike on residential neighbourhood in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Friday, May 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
People lay flowers in front of a house heavily damaged after a Russian strike on residential neighbourhood in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, May 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
A women cries as she lays down flowers in front of a house heavily damaged after a Russian strike on residential neighbourhood in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, May 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
A woman lays flowers in front of a house heavily damaged after a Russian strike on residential neighbourhood in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Friday, May 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Rescue workers stand in the yard of an apartment building heavily damaged after a Russian strike on residential neighbourhood in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Friday, May 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Ukraine's Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko, left, and Ukraine's Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko, right, walk in the yard of an apartment building heavily damaged after a Russian strike on residential neighbourhood in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Friday, May 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Soldiers from Ukraine's Khartia brigade fire a canon towards Russian army positions near Kharkiv, Ukraine, Thursday, May 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrii Marienko)
Soldiers from Ukraine's Khartia brigade fire a canon towards Russian army positions near Kharkiv, Ukraine, Thursday, May 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrii Marienko)
Apartment interiors are seen in a damaged residential house following Russian missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, May 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Rescue workers clear the rubble of a house heavily damaged after a Russian strike on a residential neighborhood in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Thursday, May 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
