Taking the fight to the biased mainstream media, President Trump has announced his intention to sue the BBC for $1–5 billion next week over a Panorama documentary’s misleading edit of his January 6, 2021, speech, which omitted his “peacefully” qualifying statement and edited his remarks to imply a call for violence. Desperately backpedaling, BBC Chair Samir Shah apologized but denied defamation.
According to statements from their lawyers, the BBC regrets the unintentional error and won’t rebroadcast the misleading clip. As a result of this scandal, CEO Deborah Turness and director-general Tim Davie have been forced to step down. Turness defended the BBC’s impartiality, insisting mistakes aren’t institutional bias. Trump aims to discuss with UK PM Keir Starmer.
In any case, Trump began his comments by announcing, We’ll sue them for anywhere between a billion and $5 billion, probably sometime next week.” This came after another set of comments in which he threatened to sue if the “false, defamatory, disparaging, and inflammatory statements” weren’t retracted.
Frantically attempting to dodge responsibility, a BBC spokesperson acknowledges the situation. “Lawyers for the BBC have written to President Trump’s legal team in response to a letter received on Sunday,” an official statement read.
Continuing, the same source said, “BBC chair Samir Shah has separately sent a personal letter to the White House making clear to President Trump that he and the corporation are sorry for the edit of the president’s speech on 6 January 2021, which featured in the programme.”
Building on this point, the statement noted that the BBC has “no plans” to rebroadcast the documentary that sparked the controversy. “While the BBC sincerely regrets the manner in which the video clip was edited, we strongly disagree there is a basis for a defamation claim,” a spokesperson said.
Unable to accept full responsibility for this dishonorable editing, the statement noted that the cut gave “the mistaken impression that President Trump had made a direct call for violent action” but was unintentional.
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Offering another view of the scandal, Deborah Turness, the recently resigned BBC News CEO, lamented, “I stepped down over the weekend because the buck stops with me. But I’d like to make one thing very clear, BBC News is not institutionally biased.”
Concluding her comments, she noted, “Our journalists aren’t corrupt. Our journalists are hardworking people who strive for impartiality, and I will stand by their journalism. There is no institutional bias. Mistakes are made.”
Reacting to the same scandal, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy lost her mind. She expressed hope that the negotiations would “renew its mission for the modern age” and ensure a “genuinely accountable” organisation.
Still not done, she failed to accept full responsibility for the scandal. “There is a fundamental difference between raising serious concerns over editorial failings and members of this House launching a sustained attack on the institution itself, because the BBC is not just a broadcaster, it is a national institution that belongs to us all,” Nandy noted.