LONDON, United Kingdom — The BBC has issued a formal apology to former US President Donald Trump for an episode of its flagship investigative program, Panorama, which improperly edited portions of his January 6, 2021, speech.
The corporation conceded the edit gave “the mistaken impression that President Trump had made a direct call for violent action” but firmly rejected demands for $1 billion (£759 million) in damages.
The fallout from the scandal has already led to significant internal upheaval, including the resignations of BBC Director General Tim Davie and head of news Deborah Turness on Sunday.
The nature of the misleading edit
The Panorama program, broadcast in 2024, merged two separate quotes from Trump’s lengthy speech, which were originally delivered more than 50 minutes apart.
- In his speech, Trump said: “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 in the speech, he said: “And we fight. We fight like hell.”
The Panorama clip, however, showed him 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.”
In its Corrections and Clarifications section published late Thursday, the BBC acknowledged the error:
“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,” it said.
The BBC also confirmed that it would not broadcast the controversial program again. Separately, BBC Chair Samir Shah sent a personal letter to the White House expressing regret over the editing.
BBC rejects defamation claim and compensation
Lawyers for President Trump had threatened to sue the BBC for damages unless a retraction, apology, and compensation were provided by a deadline of 22:00 GMT (17:00 EST) on Friday.
A BBC spokesperson confirmed the corporation’s legal stance:
“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 a letter to Trump’s legal team, the BBC laid out five arguments against the defamation claim, including:
- The BBC did not distribute the Panorama episode on its US channels.
- The documentary did not cause Trump harm, citing his re-election shortly after the program aired.
- The clip was intended to shorten a long speech and the edit was not done with malice or design to mislead.
- The 12-second clip was part of an hour-long program that contained many voices in support of Trump.
- An opinion on a matter of public concern and political speech is heavily protected under US defamation laws.
Pattern of editing alleged
The crisis deepened when The Daily Telegraph revealed a second similarly edited clip of the same speech, broadcast on a Newsnight program in 2022.
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The Newsnight clip showed Trump 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.” This was immediately followed by a voiceover, “and fight they did,” over footage of the Capitol riots.
Former White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney immediately flagged the splicing on the same program, stating: “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.”
A spokesman for Trump’s legal team told the Telegraph that it was “now clear that BBC engaged in a pattern of defamation against President Trump.” The corporation stated that the Newsnight matter is currently being looked into.
