BBC lawyers say Donald Trump has no case against the Corporation despite his threats to sue for up to $5billion – because its doctored Panorama edit did not air in the US
The BBC has insisted it cannot sue Donald Trump for $5bn because its misleading Panorama edit was not broadcast in the US.
Director-General Tim Davie dramatically resigned last week, along with News chief executive Deobrah Turness, following criticism of a 12-second altered version of one of the President’s speeches.
The publisher’s lawyers filed a response to Mr. Trump’s legal threat, arguing that it had no case.
The BBC later said it was ready to apologize to the President after admitting an ‘error of judgement’.
However, according to The Times, the company published Trump, Second Chance?, published before the Presidential election. He reported that the documentary called was not shown in the USA because the BBC did not have the right to broadcast it.
Viewers in the US were also unable to watch the show via iPlayer because it was ‘geo-blocked’ by the broadcaster.
The documentary suggested Mr Trump made a ‘direct call for violent action’ by combining two separate parts of his speech ahead of the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021, into a 12-second clip.
BBC lawyers argued that President Trump may not have suffered “major reputational damage” because he won the presidential election.
Donald Trump threatens to sue for $5bn after BBC Panorama airs doctored footage of his speech
Chief executive Tim Davie resigned last week amid scandal
They added that the edit was not made in bad faith and that the clip contradicted the rest of the hour-long program, which attempted to show the reasons why the President’s supporters voted for him.
Mr. Trump said he would press his claim in the state of Florida.
This week he doubled down on his threat to sue over ‘corrupt’ regulation after his lawyer first wrote to the BBC demanding $1bn.
A spokesperson for the company said there had been ‘no further contact with President Trump’s lawyers at this point’ since the initial threat.
They added: ‘Our position is the same.’
The BBC also said it had no plans to reach an agreement with Trump, despite Trump having made out-of-court settlements with US media outlets including Disney’s ABC, Paramount’s CBS and Facebook owner Meta.
On Saturday, Mr Trump promised to raise the issue with Keir Starmer in an interview with GB News.
He said: ‘I think I have a duty to do this; ‘That was terrible.’
On Saturday, Mr Trump promised to raise the issue with Keir Starmer in an interview with GB News (file image)
Yesterday, it was revealed that a senior BBC chief called on staff to ‘check in’ with colleagues working in the news industry following ‘attacks’ over the Panorama scandal.
Kate Phillips, one of the leaders set to replace Tim Davie as Director General, sent out an impassioned internal email last Friday to rally her ‘incredible’ troops.
The content chief sought to boost morale after Mr. Trump threatened to sue the broadcaster for up to $5 billion after it admitted to doctoring footage of his speech.
In an email seen by the Mail following the resignation of Mr Davie and News chief executive Deborah Turness, Ms Phillips wrote: ‘Well, we’ve made it through the week.
‘Thank you very much to everyone who has been in touch.
‘I really appreciated your candor and it became clear how passionately you care about the BBC and the work you do, as well as the understandable sadness and disappointment you feel at what has happened. I feel the same.”
It took Lisa Nandy’s speech in Parliament in which the Culture Minister ‘highlighted the danger of continued attacks on the BBC’.
“Of course, we are always fully responsible and concerns about editorial errors should always be raised,” Ms. Phillips wrote.
BBC chief content officer Kate Phillips sought to boost morale by praising ‘incredible’ staff after Tim Davie’s resignation
‘But this must be in the spirit of making the best public service broadcaster in the world even better.
‘As Tim said in his call to all staff earlier this week, these are difficult times for us all, but if we stand up for the BBC and focus on serving viewers, we can get through them and thrive.’
Ms Phillips praised the BBC for providing ‘the world’s best journalism’, adding: ‘Our friends and colleagues at the News are doing an outstanding job; Please take a moment to talk to people you know there.
‘And if you still have questions, I encourage you to continue talking to senior leaders in your area.’
