The BBC is preparing to issue a formal apology for selectively editing a speech by US President Donald Trump in a 2024 Panorama episode, which misled viewers by implying that he directly incited the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021.
BBC Chairman Samir Shah is expected to express regret in a letter to the UK Parliament’s Culture, Media and Sport Committee on Monday, responding to demands for accountability over the broadcast of Trump: A Second Chance?, aired a week before the 2024 US presidential election. A BBC spokesperson said: “The BBC chairman will provide a full response to the culture, media and sport committee on Monday.”
The programme, produced by independent company October Films Ltd, spliced together clips from Trump’s January 6 speech more than 50 minutes apart, creating the impression that he said: “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol… and I’ll be there with you. And we fight. We fight like hell.”
In reality, the “fight like hell” phrase came from a separate section discussing alleged election corruption, where Trump used “fight” or “fighting” 20 times, while the original context included calls to “peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.” Trump had actually said, “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women.” The BBC program took the first part, and combined it with parts spoken much later in different contexts.
A leaked internal memo by Michael Prescott, a former independent adviser to the BBC’s Editorial Guidelines and Standards Committee who left the channel in June, described the edit as “completely misleading” and a “serious manipulation” that materially distorted Trump’s words.
The controversy erupted after The Telegraph published details of Prescott’s 19-page dossier last week, which also alleged systemic bias in BBC Arabic’s coverage of the Israel-Gaza war and issues around transgender reporting. The dossier said the programme made the US president ‘say’ things never actually said by splicing together footage various parts of the speech, clubbing together parts of speech said in completely different contexts.
Prescott claimed senior managers “refused to accept there had been a breach of standards” when he raised the Trump edit in May, and he received no reply after warning Shah of a “very, very dangerous precedent.” The extract of the leaked memo said, “It was completely misleading to edit the clip in the way Panorama aired it. The fact that he did not explicitly exhort supporters to go down and fight at Capitol Hill was one of the reasons there were no federal charges for incitement to riot.”
UK Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy called the Panorama incident “very serious” and part of broader allegations of “systemic bias,” but expressed “complete confidence” that Shah and Director-General Tim Davie are addressing it. On BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, she criticised inconsistent editorial decisions often left to individual journalists, adding she has had “far more conversations than I would like” with BBC leadership over the past 15 months. Nandy highlighted a “dangerous environment” where fact blurs with opinion, and voiced disappointment over Ofcom’s decision not to act on politicians presenting news.
Calls for BBC’s director general Davie’s resignation have intensified over the incident. Former Culture Secretary Sir John Whittingdale said the “buck stops” with him, warning the scandal threatens the BBC’s reputation. Ex-Prime Minister Boris Johnson accused the BBC of “arrogance,” prompting a retort from presenter Nick Robinson questioning Johnson’s authority on standards. Constitutional expert Sir Vernon Bogdanor and former BBC Television director Danny Cohen also demanded Davie’s immediate exit.
Committee chair Dame Caroline Dinenage demanded reassurances that the BBC is upholding “accurate and fair reporting” amid a polarised media landscape. BBC News CEO Deborah Turness emailed staff acknowledging a “difficult” week, while a spokesperson said the corporation takes feedback seriously and has improved processes where errors occurred.
BBC’s apology will be for the misleading editing of the Trump speech. It is not yet known whether Shah’s letter will also address allegations of bias reporting by BBC Arabic and BBC’s reporting on gender.
