London/Washington, November 15: The BBC on Thursday apologised to U.S. President Donald Trump for a misleadingly edited segment of his Jan. 6, 2021 speech but said it had not defamed him, rejecting the foundation of a threatened $1 billion lawsuit.
In a statement and retraction, the broadcaster said Chair Samir Shah had written personally to the White House acknowledging that a Panorama documentary aired days before the 2024 U.S. election had incorrectly stitched together excerpts of Trump’s speech that were delivered nearly an hour apart. The edit, it said, unintentionally created the impression that Trump had issued a continuous and direct call for violent action before some of his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol.
“We accept that our edit unintentionally created the impression that we were showing a single continuous section of the speech … and that this gave the mistaken impression that President Trump had made a direct call for violent action,” the BBC said. It added it had no plans to rebroadcast the programme.
The documentary, “Trump: A Second Chance?”, was produced by a third-party company and excluded remarks in which Trump urged supporters to demonstrate peacefully. Trump’s lawyer had demanded an apology, a full retraction and compensation, accusing the broadcaster of causing “overwhelming financial and reputational harm” and setting a Friday deadline for a response.
The controversy triggered a leadership shake-up at the corporation. Director-General Tim Davie and news chief Deborah Turness resigned on Sunday, saying the scandal had damaged the BBC and that “the buck stops with me.”
Legal experts said Trump would struggle to pursue a defamation case. Deadlines to bring claims in English courts, where damages rarely exceed £100,000 ($132,000), expired more than a year ago. Because the documentary was not broadcast in the United States, it would be difficult to show that American viewers thought less of him as a result.
The BBC said it was also examining a report in the Daily Telegraph that its Newsnight programme in 2022 had made a similar splice of Trump’s speech. If the case ever reached trial, lawyers said the broadcaster could argue that Trump suffered no actual harm, noting that he ultimately won the 2024 presidential election.
