Friday 14 / November / 2025
The BBC has apologized to US President Donald Trump for a misleading edit of a "Panorama" documentary, the British public broadcaster said Thursday, but denied the issue is grounds for a defamation lawsuit.
Trump has threatened to sue the media company for $1 billion (around €860 million) for misleading viewers over a speech he gave to his supporters in Washington, DC on January 6, 2021, shortly before Joe Biden's 2020 election victory was due to be certified by Congress.
The program spliced together two excerpts from one of Trump's speeches that were more than 50 minutes apart, creating the impression that he was inciting the Capitol riot.
The documentary, which was broadcast days before the 2024 US presidential election, had also removed a section where Trump said he wanted supporters to demonstrate peacefully.
The controversy has already led to the resignations of BBC Director General Tim Davie and Chief Executive of News Deborah Turness.
What did the BBC say in its letter to Trump?
In a statement on Thursday, the BBC said its chair Samir Shah has "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."
"We strongly disagree there is a basis for a defamation claim," the statement added.
In a retraction issued on Thursday evening, the BBC said it accepts that the edit "unintentionally created the impression that we were showing a single continuous section of the speech, rather than excerpts from different points in the speech, and that this gave the mistaken impression that President Trump had made a direct call for violent action."
It added that the program would "not be broadcast again in this form on any BBC platforms."
What did the BBC say about Trump's defamation lawsuit?
In the letter, the BBC outlines the reasons why it does not believe Trump's defamation allegations apply.
It explained that it did not distribute the "Panorama" episode on its US channels, nor did it have the rights to do so.
The BBC also denied that the edit was done with malice to mislead viewers, but to shorten a lengthy speech.
It also argued that the documentary had not caused harm to Trump, as the US president claims, because he was ultimately re-elected.
The BBC also pointed out that the clip was not intended to be viewed in isolation, and was part of an hour-long broadcast that contained multiple opinions that were supportive of Trump.
Trump has targeted several other prominent media organizations with massive lawsuits for what he views as unfavorable coverage, including TV networks CNN, ABC and CBS, as well as the companies that own The New York Times and Wall Street Journal.
What new claims is the BBC facing?
The BBC's retraction came as the company faced fresh allegations that another program, "Newsnight," which was aired two years before the "Panorama" program, had edited Trump's January 6 speech in a similarly misleading way.
In the "Newsnight" episode broadcast in June 2022, Trump's speech was edited to imply that he was explicitly inciting his supporters to riot and stop Congress from certifying Biden's election win.
Responding to the latest claims, which were reported by a podcast linked to the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph, the BBC said it "holds itself to the highest editorial standards" and was "looking into" the matter.
