The BBC is prepared to formally apologise to Donald Trump as part of efforts to resolve his billion-dollar legal threat over the editing of a speech in a Panorama programme, the Guardian understands. The corporation has already concluded that the edit 'gave the impression that President Trump had made a direct call for violent action'.
The legal threat follows an edition of Panorama broadcast last year, which spliced together clips of a Trump speech made on 6 January 2021, making it appear he directly encouraged the US Capitol attack later that day. The spliced clip suggested Trump told the crowd: 'We’re going to walk down to the Capitol and I’ll be there with you, and we fight. We fight like hell.' The words were taken from sections of his speech almost an hour apart.
Senior BBC figures see no reason why a more personal apology cannot be made to the president in its official response, given an apology for the edit has already been made by BBC chair Samir Shah. The apology means the BBC can push back at any wider criticisms of its journalism in the US, according to people familiar with the discussions.
Trump has doubled down on his legal threat, telling Fox News: 'I guess I have to. They defrauded the public and they’ve admitted it.' The White House signalled legal action on Wednesday. Legal experts have questioned Trump's chances of victory given Florida's liberal libel laws and the fact the Panorama episode was not available in the state. The broadcast is also too old for legal action in the UK.
The edit was one of the criticisms raised in a memo by Michael Prescott, a former independent external adviser to the BBC’s editorial guidelines committee. There is anger within the BBC over the edit, but also concern over the political nature of Prescott’s memo, which outlines claims of liberal bias. Prescott has said he had no political motivations.
