Last week, a major report broke that a program aired on the BBC included deceptively edited video of a speech given by Donald Trump on Jan. 6, 2021, with the footage cut to make it appear as though he called on protesters to riot at the Capitol.
Concerns about the edits were made by Michael Prescott, a former independent external adviser to the BBC’s editorial guidelines and standards committee (EGSC).
As a result of the probe that ensued, two high-level BBC executives have now resigned in disgrace over the manipulated documentary.
In real life, Trump told the protesters on Jan. 6 “to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.”
The edit, however, spliced together different parts of his speech so that Trump appeared to state, “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol and I’ll be there with you, and we fight. We fight like hell.”
Prescott noted, “It was completely misleading to edit the clip in the way Panorama aired it.”
His report continued, “The fact that [Trump] did not explicitly exhort supporters to go down and fight at Capitol Hill was one of the reasons there were no federal charges for incitement to riot.”
After Prescott’s report first emerge, the BBC responded, “While we don’t comment on leaked documents, when the BBC receives feedback it takes it seriously and considers it carefully. Michael Prescott is a former adviser to a board committee where differing views and opinions of our coverage are routinely discussed and debated.”
That line of defense has since changed, with Tim Davie, 58, who has served as BBC director-general since September 2020, tendering his resignation. Additionally, Deborah Turness, head of the BBC's news and current affairs arm, stepped down.
Turness stated that the documentary controversy "has reached a stage where it is causing damage to the BBC, an institution that I love. As the CEO of BBC News and Current Affairs, the buck stops with me.”
Trump, as expected, pounced on the news.
Trump has the BBC right where he wants them, especially after a slew of wins against the mainstream media for fake news reports.
The president is now demanding a retraction, an apology, as well as appropriate compensation for the damage he says was done by the documentary.
Trump’s attorneys issued a letter to the BBC on the matter, stating, "If the BBC does not comply with the above by November 14, 2025, at 5:00 p.m. EST, President Trump will be left with no alternative but to enforce his legal and equitable rights, all of which are expressly reserved and are not waived, including by filing legal action for no less than $1,000,000,000 (One Billion Dollars) in damages.”
Amid these resignations, I would imagine the BBC will have no choice but to meet the president's demands and write Trump a check rather than litigate what is clearly a losing case. So, the commander in chief may well have another check very soon to hang up on his wall of shame for the mainstream media.
