The BBC's Newsnight has been accused of selectively editing a Donald Trump speech to make it appear he made a more explicit call for violence ahead of the 2021 Capitol riots. The allegations come after similar claims against the BBC programme Panorama, which led to the resignation of director general Tim Davie and head of BBC News Deborah Turness.
According to The Telegraph, a 2022 edition of Newsnight spliced together two sections of Trump's speech from January 6, 2021. The edit combined his call for supporters to walk to the Capitol building with a later segment where he urged them to 'fight like hell', without alerting viewers to the cut.
Former White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney criticised the BBC on air at the time, stating: 'Your video actually spliced together the presentation. That line about “and we fight and fight like hell” is actually later in the speech.'
A BBC spokesperson said: 'The BBC holds itself to the highest editorial standards. This matter has been brought to our attention and we are now looking into it.' The corporation is also considering how to respond to a potential billion-dollar lawsuit threatened by Trump, according to the White House.
The Panorama edit, broadcast a week before the US election, similarly 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 almost an hour apart. BBC chair Samir Shah apologised, saying the edit gave the impression 'of a direct call for violent action'.
