"BBC News" (BBC News) reported that the television station has received a letter from US President Donald Trump, in which he threatens the British media corporation with legal action over the controversial editing of his speech in a documentary broadcast a week before the US presidential election on November 5, 2024, Reuters reported, BTA reported.
The BBC admits that the editing of Trump's speech led to the creation of an inappropriate suggestion and should have been done more carefully.
The documentary broadcast last year combined two separate parts of Trump's speech in a way that created the impression that on January 6 four years ago he seemed to be calling on his supporters to storm Congress, Reuters notes.
Yesterday, the director general of the British media Tim Davey and the head of BBC news Deborah Turnes resigned over the case. "We will review the letter and respond in due course," a BBC spokesman said in an emailed comment to Reuters.
BBC chairman Samir Shah has apologised for an "error of judgement" in editing US President Donald Trump's speech in the documentary "Panorama", following the resignations of BBC Director General Tim Davey and the head of the British media outlet's news division Deborah Turnes, Reuters reported, BTA reports.
Shah said the BBC recognised that the editing of Trump's speech had caused controversy and should have been approached more carefully. He noted that the matter had been addressed internally earlier this year, but stressed that the broadcaster should have taken formal action at the time.
"It is abundantly clear that the BBC must uphold impartiality", Shah said in a letter to British lawmakers, adding that the broadcaster was determined to restore public trust and ensure that its journalistic practices met the highest standards of fair reporting. Yesterday, Shah was summoned to give an explanation on the case before the Culture and Media Committee in the British Parliament.
Regarding the controversial editing of Trump's speech, Shah said that after further discussion, the BBC accepted that the way in which the speech was edited "created the impression of a direct call for violence".
"The BBC would like to apologize for this error in judgment," he wrote in the letter.
The controversy that led to the resignations now was caused by information from the "Daily Telegraph" newspaper, based on an internal document of the media, prepared by its former consultant on issues related to the standards that the BBC must adhere to. This document listed a number of errors made by the BBC in its coverage of events. Among those errors was the way Trump's speech from January 6, 2021, was edited.
The document says that the BBC's Panorama program edited two parts of Trump's speech in a way that suggested he appeared to be encouraging the storming of Congress on January 6 four years ago, Reuters highlights.
In the BBC documentary program, Trump is shown telling his supporters on January 6, 2021: "We will get to the Capitol" and "You will fight with all your might". However, he made these two statements in different parts of his speech at the time, but they were edited so that they would be viewed one after the other.
The revelations were made by the "Daily Telegraph" last Tuesday. And Trump's edited and misleading speech was broadcast on "Panorama" a week before the US presidential election on November 5, 2024, notes Agence France-Presse.
In fact, in the first passage of his speech, Trump stated: "We will get to the Capitol and encourage our brave senators and elected representatives". And the words: "Will fight with all our might" are from another passage of the speech.
The BBC was also embroiled in controversy over allegations that it failed to maintain political neutrality in its reports and programs, including when covering events related to Donald Trump, the war between Israel and the Palestinian armed group "Hamas" and with questions about the LGBT community.
The growing criticism of the British media also led to the resignations yesterday of the BBC's director general Tim Davey and the head of the media's news department Deborah Turnes, Reuters notes.
While Shah acknowledged the criticism over the editing of Trump's speech, he hit back at claims that the BBC wanted to "bury" some of the allegations or failed to address some of the issues. He stressed that the BBC had issued corrections where errors had been made, changed editorial guidelines, made management changes and taken disciplinary action.