image source, Robert Schmidt/Getty Images
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- author, Helen Sullivan
- author title, BBC News
US President Donald Trump has announced that he will take legal action against the BBC over the way it broadcasts its programs. panorama His speech was edited after the company apologized but refused compensation.
On Friday night, President Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that he would “probably file a lawsuit next week for between $1 billion and $5 billion.”
On Thursday, the BBC said its version of the January 6, 2021 speech had unintentionally given the “false impression that President Trump had directly called for violence” and announced it would not broadcast it again.
The company apologized to the president but said it would not pay financial compensation.
The BBC issued the statement after Trump’s lawyers threatened to sue the BBC for $1 billion in damages unless Trump recanted, apologized and paid compensation.
President Trump told reporters that he was considering taking legal action, saying, “I think we have to do that.” “They deceived me. They changed the words that came out of my mouth.”
The President said he had not raised the issue with Keir Starmer but that the Prime Minister had asked him to speak to him. President Trump said he would call Starmer at the weekend.
A search of public court records databases confirmed that no lawsuits had been filed in federal or state court in Florida as of Friday afternoon.
In a separate interview recorded before his remarks about Air Force One on Saturday, Trump said he had a “duty” to sue the BBC, adding: “If we don’t sue, we can’t stop this from happening to other people again.”
He referred to the controversy that erupted with American news network CBS over an interview on the show, calling the editing “terrible” and “worse than Kamala.” 60 minutes Kamala Harris, her opponent in the 2024 election.
In July this year, American media company Paramount Global agreed to pay US$16 million to resolve a legal dispute over the interview.
image source, Reuters
Controversy arises from the method panorama Trump’s January 6, 2021 speech was edited for a documentary to be aired in October 2024. During his speech, Trump told his supporters, “We’re going to go to the Capitol and cheer on our brave senators and congressmen.”
“And we will fight. We will fight with all our might,” he said in a speech more than 50 minutes later.
in the program panoramaThe video shows President Trump saying, “I’m going to the Capitol… and I’m going to be there with you. And we’re going to fight. We’re going to fight as hard as we can.”
The controversy over the editing of President Trump’s speech led to the resignation of BBC Director General Tim Davie and News Director Deborah Turness.
In a corrections and clarifications section posted on Thursday night, the BBC said the Panorama program had been reviewed following criticism of the way Trump’s speech was edited.
“We acknowledge that our editing unintentionally created the impression that we were showing a single, continuous portion of the speech rather than excerpts from various parts of the speech, which falsely created the impression that President Trump was directly calling for violence,” it said in a statement.
A BBC spokesperson said this week that its lawyers had written to Mr Trump’s legal team.
“BBC Chairman Sameer Shah has sent a separate letter to the White House making it clear to President Trump that the BBC and the company deplore the editing of the President’s speech of January 6, 2021, which was included in the program.”
“The BBC deeply regrets the way the video was edited, but does not agree that there is any basis for a defamation claim.”
In a letter to Mr Trump’s legal team, the BBC listed five main reasons why it believes he should not be held responsible.
First, he argued that the BBC had no right to distribute the episode. panorama It wasn’t aired on US channels, but it wasn’t.
When this documentary was made available on the BBC iPlayer platform, viewing was limited to viewers in the UK.
Second, he said the documentary did no harm to Trump, as he was re-elected soon after.
Third, it pointed out that the clip was not designed to mislead, the only purpose was to shorten a long speech, and that the editing was not done maliciously.
Fourth, he asserted that this clip was never intended to be considered in isolation. Rather, it was just 12 seconds of an hour-long program that included many voices supporting Trump.
Finally, in the United States, public interest opinions and political speech are highly protected by defamation laws.
The BBC’s apology came hours after the British newspaper daily telegraph A second similarly edited clip has been released and will be broadcast on the BBC program news night In 2022.
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