London (UK) [Britain], November 14 (HBTV): The BBC has apologised to US President Donald Trump for an edited segment in a Panorama episode that inaccurately combined portions of his January 6, 2021 speech, but has dismissed his demands for compensation, the broadcaster said on Sunday.
The corporation acknowledged that the edit created ‘the mistaken impression that President Trump had made a direct call for violent action’ and confirmed it would not rebroadcast the 2024 programme. Trump has threatened to file a one-billion-dollar lawsuit unless the BBC retracts the documentary, issues a formal apology and compensates him.
The controversy triggered the resignations of BBC Director General Tim Davie and Head of News Deborah Turness. Hours before the apology, a second misleading edit from a 2022 Newsnight broadcast surfaced, intensifying public scrutiny.
According to CNN, a BBC spokesperson said the broadcaster’s lawyers had responded to a letter from Trump’s legal team received on Sunday. The spokesperson also stated that BBC Chair Samir Shah had separately written to the White House to convey a personal apology to President Trump for the editing of his January 6 speech featured in the programme.
While the BBC affirmed it has no plans to rebroadcast the documentary on any of its platforms, it rejected claims that the programme was defamatory. The broadcaster had previously acknowledged an error of judgment in the documentary Trump: A Second Chance?, which aired just days before the 2024 US presidential election, ultimately won by Trump.
The documentary combined three quotes from two different segments of Trump’s January 6 speech, which were delivered nearly an hour apart. Critics argued that the editing suggested Trump had delivered the lines consecutively, urging supporters to march with him and ‘fight like hell’. Al Jazeera reported that among the portions removed was a passage in which Trump called for peaceful demonstration.
Following the speech, thousands of Trump supporters marched to the US Capitol and stormed the building, attempting to halt the certification of the 2020 presidential election results.
In an interview with Fox News on Tuesday, Trump said the British broadcaster had ‘butchered’ what he called his ‘beautiful’ and ‘calming’ speech, alleging the edited version made it appear extreme. On Truth Social, he described his January 2021 speech as ‘good’ and ‘perfect’, calling the BBC’s actions ‘a terrible thing for democracy’.
He wrote: ‘The TOP people in the BBC, including TIM DAVIE, the BOSS, are all quitting/FIRED, because they were caught “doctoring” my very good (PERFECT!) speech of January 6th. Thank you to The Telegraph for exposing these Corrupt “Journalists.” These are very dishonest people who tried to step on the scales of a Presidential Election. On top of everything else, they are from a Foreign Country, one that many consider our Number One Ally. What a terrible thing for Democracy!’
(ANI)