British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Wednesday did not comment on threats of prosecution against British media, two days before US President Donald Trump’s ultimatum, pledging to “always defend a strong and independent BBC”. However, the Labor leader believed that public audiovisual organizations must “bring order to their operations”, “respect the highest (quality) standards” and “correct mistakes promptly”.
- Understand: President Trump threatens BBC with R5 billion lawsuit, British network ‘apologizes’ for misleading editing of presidential speech
- context: BBC director-general announces resignation over misleading editing of President Trump’s speech
President Trump has threatened to sue the BBC for US$1 billion (approximately R$5.4 billion) for distorting his statements in a documentary aired in October 2024, just before the US presidential election. In a letter to the organization, Mr. Trump’s lawyers confirmed that the documentary could be retracted and retracted by 10 p.m. Friday (7 p.m. Brasilia time).
Mr Starmer was asked by MPs on Wednesday whether he intended to ask US leaders to drop the defamation case. He declined to answer the question, but said he would “always defend a strong and independent BBC”.
— In an age of misinformation, the case for an unbiased British news agency is stronger than ever — he stressed in his first public statement on the issue.
Tim Davey, general director of the British group, and Deborah Turness, head of news channel BBC News, submitted their resignations on Sunday after the broadcaster was investigated for allegedly editing the US president’s speech on January 6, 2021, the day the attack on the US Capitol occurred.
A montage of Trump’s speeches appeared to show him urging his supporters to march on Congress to “fight like the devil.” But the original phrase is, “Let’s walk to the Capitol and encourage our brave senators and members of Congress.”
The expression “fight like a devil” corresponds to another part of the speech.
On Tuesday night, President Trump said he had a “duty” to sue the BBC, saying: “We can’t let people do that.”
— Television changed my speech on January 6, 2021. It was a beautiful speech, very gentle and seemed radical. In fact, it changed him. What he did was unbelievable,” the American president claimed on Fox News.
A survey of more than 5,000 people conducted by the YouGov Institute and published on Tuesday found that 57% of British people agreed that the BBC should apologize to the US president.
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