• BBC apologises to Trump after acknowledging Panorama documentary used an inaccurately edited clip.
• Edited Trump speech sequence wrongly implied he urged violence on January 6, triggering political backlash.
• BBC rejects Trump’s $1bn compensation claim, insisting the error does not amount to defamation.
The BBC has apologised to US President Donald Trump after admitting that an edited sequence in a Panorama documentary misrepresented his January 6, 2021 speech, although the broadcaster has rejected Trump’s demand for $1 billion in damages.
The correction, issued on Thursday, confirmed that the programme Trump: A Second Chance? used a spliced clip that did not accurately reflect the original remarks, following internal concerns over how the footage was edited.
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The documentary portrayed Trump as saying, “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol… and I’ll be there with you. And we fight. We fight like hell,” but a leaked internal memo later revealed that the clip merged statements made more than 50 minutes apart and omitted Trump’s call for supporters to “cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women.”
The memo, disclosed in a report published by The Telegraph and authored by Michael Prescott, a former adviser to the BBC’s editorial standards committee, escalated scrutiny of the broadcaster and contributed to the resignations of director general Tim Davie and BBC News chief executive Deborah Turness.
In a letter sent on Sunday, Trump’s lawyers demanded the BBC withdraw the programme by November 14 or face a lawsuit seeking at least $1 billion, arguing that the edits caused significant financial and reputational harm.
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A BBC spokesperson confirmed that BBC chair Samir Shah had written a personal letter to President Trump expressing regret for the edit, but clarified that the corporation does not accept liability and will not rebroadcast the programme.
The BBC board has faced criticism for what insiders say was a slow and inadequate response to the editing error, while the organisation continues to battle broader allegations of bias, including claims of “anti-Israel bias” in its Arabic service and accusations regarding its coverage of transgender issues.
Turness previously acknowledged that mistakes were made but rejected claims of institutional bias within BBC News.
