Esther Imonmion
The BBC has apologised to US President Donald Trump for an edited Panorama episode that spliced separate sections of his 6 January 2021 speech, but the corporation has rejected his demand for compensation.
In a statement published in its Corrections and Clarifications section on Thursday evening, the BBC admitted the edit had created “the mistaken impression that President Trump had made a direct call for violent action”. It said it would no longer broadcast the 2024 programme.
The apology came hours after the Daily Telegraph revealed a second similarly edited clip from a 2022 Newsnight broadcast. The fallout from the Panorama controversy led to the resignations of BBC director general Tim Davie and head of news Deborah Turness on Sunday.
President Trump’s lawyers have threatened to sue the BBC for $1bn (£759m) unless it issues a full retraction, apology, and compensation. The BBC received the legal letter on Sunday and was given a response deadline of 22:00 GMT (17:00 EST) on Friday.
A BBC spokesperson said the corporation had written to Trump’s legal team and that BBC chair Samir Shah had sent a personal letter to the White House, expressing regret for the edit of Trump’s 6 January speech. However, the corporation maintains there is “no basis for a defamation claim”.
The BBC set out five arguments in its defence: that the documentary did not air on its US channels; that it caused no harm, as Trump was re-elected shortly afterwards; that the edit was intended simply to shorten a long speech without malice; that the clip represented just 12 seconds within a wider programme; and that political speech is strongly protected under US defamation law. An insider said there was strong internal confidence in the BBC’s position.
The Panorama edit showed Trump saying: “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol… and I’ll be there with you. And we fight. We fight like hell.” In the full speech, the lines appear more than 50 minutes apart.
Speaking to Fox News, Trump accused the BBC of having “butchered” his remarks and “defrauded viewers”.
The controversy widened on Thursday when the Telegraph reported a similar 2022 Newsnight edit. The programme cut together separate lines from Trump’s speech, followed by presenter Kirsty Wark saying, “and fight they did”, over footage from the Capitol riots. Former White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney told the programme at the time that the clip had been “spliced together”.
A spokesperson said the BBC was reviewing the matter and remained committed to “the highest editorial standards”.
The dispute has prompted political reaction in the UK. Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy told BBC Breakfast she was confident the BBC was “gripping this with the seriousness that it demands”, but warned on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the corporation’s editorial standards were “not robust enough” and “not consistently applied”. She added that political appointments to the BBC board would be examined during the upcoming charter review, saying such appointments had “damaged confidence and trust” in the corporation’s impartiality.
Liberal Democrats leader Sir Ed Davey on Thursday urged the prime minister to “get on the phone to Trump” to help prevent the lawsuit and defend the BBC’s independence.
BBC News said it had approached the White House for comment.