Donald Trump

The editing of Donald Trump’s speech on 6 January 2021 has embroiled the BBC in controversy, led to the resignations of its top leaders and given fuel to claims of media bias at the storied British broadcaster. A dossier from a former external adviser to the BBC’s editorial standards committee flagged the edit, among other instances of purported bias in the outlet’s coverage, which was leaked to the Telegraph. As a public sector organization, the BBC is required to be impartial, though it often faces claims of bias, particularly from the right. In a broadcast of the news show Panorama before the 2024 election, Trump’s speech was edited to put together two sentences that were actually 54 minutes apart, making it appear as though he was telling people they would walk to the US Capitol and “fight like hell”. After Trump’s speech, thousands of his supporters descended on the US Capitol, some of them entering the building and brawling with police to try to stop the electoral count. Five people died within days, marking a violent start to Joe Biden’s presidency. The scandal had provided Trump another avenue to attack the media, this time overseas, and to re-litigate the circumstances of the 2020 election and his attempts to overturn the results. He has threatened legal action against the BBC. “The TOP people in the BBC, including TIM DAVIE, the BOSS, are all quitting/FIRED, because they were caught ‘doctoring’ my very good (PERFECT!) speech of January 6th,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Thank you to The Telegraph for exposing these Corrupt ‘Journalists.’ These are very dishonest people who tried to step on the scales of a Presidential Election. On top of everything else, they are from a Foreign Country, one that many consider our Number One Ally. What a terrible thing for Democracy!” The BBC’s chair, Samir Shah, called the edit an “error in judgement”. --- 📝 AI Summary: The BBC faces controversy and leadership resignations over editing Donald Trump's January 6 speech, which misrepresented his words and fueled claims of media bias, prompting Trump to threaten legal action and criticize the broadcaster's integrity.