LONDON, United Kingdom — The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has formally apologised to U.S. President Donald Trump for a misleading edit made in an episode of its flagship current-affairs programme Panorama, which gave the impression that he had made a direct call for violent action at the U.S. Capitol.
In its statement, the BBC admitted that the edit “unintentionally created the impression that we were showing a single continuous section of the speech, rather than excerpts from different points,” and that this mis-editing “gave the mistaken impression that President Trump had made a direct call for violent action.”
The controversial edit appeared in the October 2024 documentary titled “Trump: A Second Chance?”, part of Panorama, where three separate portions of Trump’s speech on January 6, 2021 — delivered nearly an hour apart — were spliced together. For example, the edit merged:
- “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol…”
- “…and I’ll be there with you. And we fight. We fight like hell.”
Responding to the controversy, Trump’s legal team threatened the BBC with a potential US$1 billion lawsuit, demanding a full retraction, apology, and compensation for alleged reputational harm.
While the BBC has removed the documentary from its platforms and stated it will not be rebroadcast, it refused to pay any compensation, saying it “strongly disagrees” that there is a legal basis for a defamation claim.
The matter has triggered serious internal repercussions at the broadcaster. Both Director-General Tim Davie and BBC News Chief Executive Deborah Turness resigned amid the fallout over editorial standards and allegations of systemic bias.
As the dispute proceeds, the BBC says it is reviewing internal practices and the broader context of editorial oversight — noting that the Panorama edit is part of a wider investigation into alleged editorial bias raised through internal memos.
