London (EFE).- The BBC is facing a major crisis after two of its senior executives resigned and United States President Donald Trump threatened to file a lawsuit of no less than 1 billion dollars, following the revelation that a documentary edited his speech related to the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot.
The dispute centers on a segment from the investigative program Panorama, which critics say misrepresented Trump’s words.
BBC Director General Tim Davie and BBC News chief Deborah Turness stepped down on Sunday after pressure mounted over the handling of the program and an internal memo regarding its editorial decisions.
The memo, written by Michael Prescott, a former external adviser to the corporation’s editorial standards committee, was published Tuesday by The Daily Telegraph.
It concluded that Panorama may have “manipulated the audience” by editing Trump’s speech “in a way that could mislead viewers about his intentions on the day of the Capitol incident.”
BBC Chairman Samir Shah acknowledged the issue, calling it an “error of judgment” in a letter to the United Kingdom Parliament’s Culture, Media, and Sport Committee.
Shah said the editing combined two non-consecutive parts of Trump’s speech, which “was intended to help the audience better understand how it was received by his supporters at that moment.”
However, Shah admitted that the result “gave the impression of a direct call to violent action,” which he said was not justified by the original speech.
Trump threatens legal action
Amid the fallout, Trump sent a letter to the BBC on Monday demanding a “full and fair retraction” before 5:00 pm Friday or face legal action seeking no less than 1 billion dollars in damages.
Trump argues the edited broadcast attempted to portray him as explicitly encouraging the storming of the Capitol, something he has denied since 2021.
“If the BBC does not correct the record, we will pursue all available legal remedies,” the letter said, according to a source familiar with the correspondence.
The BBC has not publicly responded to the threat of litigation.
Previous editorial controversies
The dispute adds to a recent series of editorial controversies surrounding the broadcaster. In February, the BBC pulled the documentary Gaza: How to Survive a War Zone from its streaming platform after it emerged that its young narrator was the son of a senior Hamas official.
UK media regulator Ofcom later ruled the program “substantially misleading,” saying it risked eroding public trust in BBC reporting on the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Last summer, the broadcaster also faced backlash for airing a live Glastonbury Festival performance in which the duo Bob Vylan shouted “death to the IDF” on stage. Davie later called the decision to air the performance “deeply disturbing” and a “significant error.”
Despite the ongoing crisis, the UK government signaled support for the corporation. A spokesperson for Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the BBC “plays a vital role in an era of disinformation, where there is a strong case for a robust and impartial news service.”
“It is important that the BBC takes steps to maintain trust and correct mistakes quickly when they occur,” the spokesperson added. EFE
mas/seo/dgp
