BBC has questions to answer over edited Trump speech on Panorama, MPs say

The BBC has “serious questions to answer” after reports that a Panorama documentary misled viewers by editing out a speech by US President Donald Trump, a cross-party group of MPs said.

The Telegraph said it saw An internal memo suggests that the show edited two parts of Trump’s speech together so that Trump appeared to openly encourage the January 2021 Capitol Hill riots.

The House of Commons culture, media and sport committee said it had written to BBC chief Samir Shah to ask what action was being taken to address the concerns raised in the note.

A BBC spokesman said: “While we do not comment on leaked documents, when the BBC receives feedback it takes it seriously and considers it carefully.”

Committee chair Caroline Dinenage said MPs “must be reassured that those at the highest levels of the BBC are treating these issues with the seriousness they deserve”.

He said the committee also wanted to ensure that the BBC “takes decisive action to protect the company’s reputation for integrity and public trust”.

“The company needs to set the standard for accurate and fair reporting, especially in a media environment where it is all too easy to find news presented in an unbiased manner,” he said.

Downing Street said Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy and senior officials at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport had received a copy of the internal memo and had been assured by the BBC that the company was looking into the issues it had raised.

A Prime Minister’s spokesman said: “We take any criticism of the BBC’s editorial standards very seriously and expect the BBC to consider any feedback they receive seriously and carefully.”

The one-hour programme, Trump: Second Chance?, was broadcast last year and was produced for the BBC by independent production company Oct Films Ltd.

“We will march to the Capitol and cheer on our brave senators, congressmen and women,” Trump said in a speech in Washington, DC, on January 6, 2021.

But in Panorama’s edit, he was seen saying: “We’re going to march to the Capitol… and I’ll be there with you. And we’re fighting. We’re fighting like hell.”

There was a difference of more than 50 minutes between the two parts of the speech edited together.

The “fight like hell” comment was taken from the episode where President Trump discusses how “corrupt” the US elections are. He used the words “fight” or “fight” a total of 20 times in his speech.

The Telegraph said that after showing the president’s speech, the program played footage of flag-waving men marching towards the Capitol.

This “created the impression that President Trump’s supporters took up his ‘call to arms,'” according to the leaked memo. However, these images were actually taken before the president started speaking.

On January 6, 2021, hundreds of Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol protesting Joe Biden’s election victory. 5 people died in the riot.

The House of Representatives accused Trump of inciting violence with baseless claims of election fraud, but he was acquitted on the impeachment charge that he incited a mob to attack the Capitol.

According to the Telegraph, The document states that Panorama’s “distortion of the day’s events” will lead viewers to ask: “Why should the BBC be trusted and where will this all end?”

When the issue was escalated to managers, the memo continued, managers “refused to acknowledge that standards had been violated.”

Speaking to GB News on Tuesday, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said the regulations were “absolutely shocking”, adding: “This is fake news, essentially putting different things together to make something look different than it actually is.

“And I think there should be confusion. Whoever did this should be removed from office, that’s what Tim Davie needs to do, identify who is spreading the misinformation and remove them from office.”

He continued: “The public needs to trust our public broadcaster… They shouldn’t be telling us things that aren’t true.

“This is a company that must hold itself to the highest standards, and that means when we see people doing something wrong they should be punished, they should be fired.”

Former prime minister Boris Johnson also said the company should respond: I ask X: “Is there anyone at the BBC who will take responsibility and resign?”

The Telegraph said the report it obtained into the BBC’s bias was written by Michael Prescott, who was previously an independent external adviser to the broadcaster’s editorial guidelines and standards committee. He left that role in June.

The newspaper said a whistleblower sent a copy of the 19-page dossier to every member of the BBC board last month. BBC News has not seen a copy of the note.

The BBC said in a statement: “Michael Prescott is a former advisor to a board committee where differing views and opinions on our news are routinely discussed.”

BBC News has approached Mr Prescott for comment.

Meanwhile, the Telegraph also reported that Mr Prescott had raised concerns about the lack of action to address the “systemic problems” of bias in BBC Arabic’s coverage of the Israel-Gaza war.

The newspaper said BBC Arabic had put some pro-Hamas and anti-Semitic commentators on air hundreds of times, and Mr Prescott said in an internal report he had found “stark differences” between the way BBC Arabic and the main BBC News website covered the conflict.

Mr Prescott said BBC Arabic’s handling of a story was “designed to minimize Israeli suffering and portray Israel as the aggressor”, while allegations against Israel were “published” without adequate checks, suggesting either carelessness or a “desire to always believe the worst about Israel”, the Telegraph reported.

In response, a BBC spokesperson said: “In relation to BBC News Arabic, if errors were made or errors occurred, we acknowledged and took action on them in a timely manner.

“We have also previously acknowledged that certain contributors should not be used and have improved our processes to prevent this from happening again.”