The BBC has issued an apology to former U.S. President Donald Trump regarding a Panorama episode that involved the splicing of portions of a speech, while simultaneously rejecting his demands for financial compensation.
The broadcasting corporation acknowledged that the editing had inadvertently created “the mistaken impression that President Trump had made a direct call for violent action” and confirmed that the program would not be broadcast again.
Legal representatives for Mr. Trump have reportedly threatened legal action against the BBC, seeking $1 billion (£759 million) in damages, contingent upon the corporation issuing a retraction, an apology, and providing compensation.
The controversy surrounding the edited speech has reportedly led to the resignations of BBC Director-General Tim Davie and Head of News Deborah Turness.
The BBC has stated that it has reached out to the White House for comment on the matter.
The apology follows the revelation of a second, similarly edited clip, which was broadcast on Newsnight in 2022, and brought to light by The Daily Telegraph.
According to its Corrections and Clarifications section, published on Thursday evening, the BBC stated that the Panorama program was reviewed after concerns were raised regarding the editing of Mr. Trump’s speech.
“We accept that our edit unintentionally created the impression that we were showing a single continuous section of the speech, rather than excerpts from different points in the speech, and that this gave the mistaken impression that President Trump had made a direct call for violent action,” the statement read.
A BBC spokesperson indicated that the corporation’s legal representatives had responded to a letter received from President Trump’s legal team on Sunday.
“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,” the spokesperson stated.
“The BBC has no plans to rebroadcast the documentary Trump: A Second Chance? on any BBC platforms.”
“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.”
In his speech on January 6, 2021, Mr. Trump stated: “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women.”
More than 50 minutes later, he added: “And we fight. We fight like hell.”
The 2024 Panorama program presented the clip as: “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol… and I’ll be there with you. And we fight. We fight like hell.”
In an interview with Fox News, Mr. Trump described his January 6, 2021 speech as having been “butchered” and alleged that the presentation “defrauded” viewers.
The BBC received the letter from Mr. Trump’s legal team on Sunday, demanding a “full and fair retraction” of the documentary, an apology, and “appropriate compensation” for the harm caused to President Trump.
The legal team had set a deadline of 22:00 GMT (17:00 EST) on Friday for the corporation to respond.
Earlier on Thursday, the BBC faced accusations of another misleading edit of Mr. Trump’s January 6, 2021 speech, which occurred two years prior to the Panorama sequence.
In a 2022 Newsnight program, the edit differed slightly from that of Panorama.
Mr. Trump is presented as saying: “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol. And we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women. And we fight. We fight like hell. And if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not gonna have a country anymore.”
Presenter Kirsty Wark followed this with a voiceover, stating “and fight they did,” accompanied by footage from the Capitol riots.
Responding to the clip on the same program, former White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, who resigned from a diplomatic post and became a critic of Mr. Trump after describing the January 6 riots as an “attempted coup,” noted that the video had “spliced together” Mr. Trump’s speech.
“That line about ‘we fight and fight like hell’ is actually later in the speech and yet your video makes it look like those two things came together,” he stated.
In response to The Telegraph’s report on Thursday, a BBC spokesperson affirmed that the BBC adheres to the “highest editorial standards” and that the matter was under review.
A representative for Mr. Trump’s legal team informed The Telegraph that it was “now clear that BBC engaged in a pattern of defamation against President Trump”.
The beloved character, played by Pam St Clement, returns next month in Nigel’s memories from the 90s.
Culture reporter Noor Nanji explains how the BBC is funded and governed, amid controversy that has lead to the departures of two senior bosses.
How much attention did you pay to what happened in the world over the past seven days?
The resignations of bosses Tim Davie and Deborah Turness have reignited the debate about BBC funding.
A decade ago, Reply 1988 launched. An emotional and nostalgic show about life in 1980s Seoul, it paved the way for other Korean global hits like Squid Game.