BBC Newsnight is also accused of doctoring Donald Trump speech: Edited clip of Capital Hill address aired two years before Panorama and bosses ‘ignored concerns’
The BBC has been accused of doctoring footage of Donald Trump’s speech on Newsnight two years before a similarly edited clip was shown on Panorama.
Footage of a speech the US President gave on January 6, 2021 was edited to show him inciting his followers to attack the Capitol building in Washington DC.
It was shown on an episode of Newsnight in June 2022, more than two years before a similarly spliced clip was featured in the BBC Panorama documentary.
Both clips give the impression that the US president is urging his supporters to ‘march to the Capitol’ with him and ‘fight like hell’; Two statements he made in his speech, about an hour apart.
Despite discussions supposedly being closed, concerns about the News Night footage were reportedly raised internally the day after it was aired.
Director-general Tim Davie dramatically resigned along with News chief executive Deobrah Turness on Sunday following criticism that viewers were misled by Panorama footage broadcast on October 28 last year.
The departure prompted praise from Mr Trump, who described Mr Davie as ‘very honest’ and lamented the editing of his ‘very good (perfect!) speech’. He gave the BBC until Friday to apologize, retract and compensate him for “damage caused”.
But given the Newsnight footage was released two years before the Panorama edit, the latest scandal risks plunging the company into further chaos, raising questions about why the same mistake was made twice.
Director-general Tim Davie left the BBC on Sunday after five years in the corporation’s most senior role
The clip appeared on an episode of Newsnight on 9 June 2022, in a segment about Senate committee hearings into the riots taking place at the time.
It showed Trump saying: ‘We will march to the Capitol and support our brave senators, congressmen and women… and we will fight. We fight like crazy.’
But during his actual speech, Trump says: ‘We’re going to march on the Capitol and support our brave senators, congressmen and women, and probably some of them we won’t support so much.’
More than 50 minutes later he adds: ‘And we fight. We fight like crazy. And if you don’t fight like hell, you won’t have a country anymore.’
Former White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, who had previously described the riots as “an attempted coup,” responded to the clip in a live broadcast from the same episode, claiming the edit “spliced together” Trump’s speech.
“The line ‘We fight and fight like hell’ actually comes later in the speech, but your video makes it seem like those two things have come together,” he tells the programme.
‘It’s these kinds of messages that many people in my country find frustrating, that the facts are really hard to get.
‘I think if we’re going to have a discussion about what this is and we’re going to prevent this from happening again, part of it is we need to make sure that our presentation of what it actually is is frank.’
The Telegraph also reported that concerns about the clip were raised at an editorial meeting the next day, but were later dismissed.
Donald Trump condemns ‘corrupt’ BBC as he attacks BBC director Tim Davie
Prime Minister Keir Starmer warned on Wednesday that the BBC needed to “get its house in order” after Trump said he had an “obligation” to sue the company for $1 billion over its editing of a misleading speech.
Speaking during the PMQs, Starmer said he supported “a strong and independent BBC” but also believed it should “uphold the highest standards to be accountable and correct mistakes quickly”.
“When mistakes are made, they need to get their house in order,” he said in response to a question urging Trump to drop his legal threat.
Trump’s lawyers threatened the broadcaster with a billion-dollar lawsuit on Monday after the BBC apologized for giving the impression that the president had called for ‘violent action’ ahead of the 2021 attack on the US Capitol.
A letter sent from Television Center to BBC President Samir Shah by Trump’s legal team in Florida said: ‘President Trump will be left with no choice but to exercise his legal and equitable rights, all of which are expressly reserved and not waived, including suing for damages of not less than $1,000,000,000 (One Billion Dollars).
‘The fabricated revelations broadcast by the BBC were widely disseminated across various digital media due to their obscene nature, reaching tens of millions of people worldwide.
‘As a result, the BBC has caused President Trump major financial and reputational losses.’
The BBC said earlier this week it would ‘review the letter and respond directly in due course’.
The scandal was sparked by the leak of an internal memo from a former standards adviser outlining failings in the BBC’s coverage of Trump, the Israel-Hamas war and transgender rights.
The memo by Michael Prescott, the former political editor of the Sunday Times, laid out what he said were a series of editorial failures at the BBC that showed systemic left-wing bias.
Prescott was external counsel to the BBC’s Editorial and Standards Committee, which oversees news, compliance and complaints.
A BBC spokesman said: ‘The BBC holds itself to the highest editorial standards. ‘This matter has been brought to our attention and we are now investigating the matter.’
