Sir Howard Stringer

I would say the brilliance of the BBC, it was designed as an institution that would be fairer and offer truth and fairness

to a British audience and subsequently to a worldwide audience with a worldwide news network.

And in many ways, American television was built on that standard.

And so giving that trust up, giving that opportunity up, I think would be a mistake.

Well, I think...

with all great institutions, leadership is critical and presumably there will be discussions about who runs the BBC now very quickly and how the board is constructed and lessons will be learned.

I think that's been true across the board.

When I was at CBS News, we were under attack by the government.

I had conversations

in a lawsuit with General Westmoreland, and before that, I had conversations with Presidents Nixon and Reagan, that news divisions, news division is only a part of the BBC, but news divisions are always the threat to politicians.

And politicians tend to dislike you if you suggest they're wrong.

And so the BBC has always been

had a reputation for fairness.

Now it's under attack now, and I think lessons will be learned regardless of what we feel about it.

But the BBC is very important to global democracy, and I think President Trump knows that.

Well, I think it's misunderstood or dimly perceived in the

in the U.S.

After all, I spent most of my life in America.

I worked 30 years at CBS.

But today, the BBC still has the top-rated entertainment broadcasts in a way that CBS today would be proud, or NBC would be proud.