BBC Apologizes to President Trump Over Doctored Speech, But Rejects Compensation
After U.S. President Donald Trump threatened the BBC with legal action over an edited speech of his in a Panorama documentary, the U.K. pubcaster has issued a formal apology, but rejected any need for compensation.
“Lawyers for the BBC have written to President Trump’s legal team in response to a letter received on Sunday,” a BBC spokesperson said on Thursday in a statement. “BBC Chair Samir Shah has separately sent a personal letter to the White House making clear to President Trump that he and the corporation are sorry for the edit of the President’s speech on 6 January 2021, which featured in the program,” the statement added.
But while the BBC said it did not plan to rebroadcast the documentary Trump: A Second Chance? on any of its platforms, the U.K. broadcaster added it intended to rebuff any threatened legal action by Trump. “While the BBC sincerely regrets the manner in which the video clip was edited, we strongly disagree there is a basis for a defamation claim,” the spokesperson added.
Earlier this week, BBC News CEO Deborah Turness and the corporation’s director-general Tim Davie resigned after the BBC was found to have edited the Jan. 6, 2021, address where Trump, speaking before the attack on the Capitol in Washington, D.C., was made to appear as though he was “calling for violent action,” according to BBC chair Shah.
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The latest response from the BBC was intended in part to respond to Trump’s threat of a lawsuit against the U.K. broadcaster, much as he has done with U.S. news outlets in the U.S., including TheNew York Times and TheWall Street Journal. The BBC earlier confirmed they had received a letter from Trump threatening legal action.
