The BBC has apologized to U.S. President Donald Trump for the way a «Panorama» episode edited his Jan. 6, 2021, speech, combining separate lines in a way that suggested he directly called for violence on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. on that day. The broadcaster acknowledged that the edit was misleading and stated that the 2024 program would not be shown again, but it rejected any suggestion of compensation, the BBC reported.
Trump’s lawyers have threatened to sue the BBC for $1 billion (£759m) unless it retracts the program, apologizes and pays damages. The issue also led to the resignations of BBC Director General Tim Davie and Head of News Deborah Turness.
The apology followed a new report revealing a second, similarly edited Trump clip aired on Newsnight in 2022. In a public correction, the BBC stated that its edit had wrongly implied it was a single, continuous section of the speech, rather than excerpts taken over 50 minutes.
The BBC maintains that there was no intent to mislead, stating that the edits were made to shorten a lengthy speech and that the program, shown in the U.K., caused Trump no harm. Trump, on the other hand, said that he «has an obligation» to sue the broadcaster, prompting Ed Davey, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, to urge Prime Minister Keir Starmer to «get on the phone to Trump» to stop the lawsuit threat and defend the independence of the BBC.
