BBC Apologizes to Trump for Misleading January 6 Clip, But Rejects Defamation Claim
The BBC issued a formal apology to President Donald Trump on Thursday for what it admitted was a misleading edit of his January 6, 2021 speech. The edit appeared in the BBC Panorama documentary Trump: A Second Chance?, which Trump threatened to sue over, claiming it defamed him by falsely portraying his words as incitement to violence.
In a statement posted to its Corrections and Clarifications page, the British broadcaster acknowledged it spliced together portions of Trump’s speech in a way that gave the impression he had made a direct call for violent action.
“During that sequence, we showed excerpts taken from different parts of the speech,” the BBC stated. “However, we accept that our edit unintentionally created the impression that we were showing a single continuous section… and that this gave the mistaken impression that President Trump had made a direct call for violent action.”
The BBC said it would not re-air the documentary and apologized to Trump, calling the edit an “error of judgment.” However, the network refused to concede that its actions amounted to defamation.
In a letter addressed to the White House, BBC Chair Samir Shah wrote, “While the BBC sincerely regrets the manner in which the video clip was edited, we strongly disagree there is a basis for a defamation claim.”
The apology follows a legal threat from Trump’s legal team demanding $1 billion in damages and a full retraction. The former president has aggressively pursued media outlets for false and damaging reporting, successfully winning a $15 million settlement from ABC News in a separate defamation case involving anchor George Stephanopoulos.
The fallout from the Panorama episode has rattled the BBC internally. Two senior executives resigned on Sunday amid the controversy. Leaked memos from inside the organization revealed concerns about “systematic bias” within the newsroom.
“Like all public organizations, the BBC is not perfect, and we must always be open, transparent, and accountable,” said outgoing Director General Tim Davie. “While not being the only reason, the current debate around BBC News has understandably contributed to my decision.”
New scrutiny also emerged Thursday when The Telegraph reported that a separate 2022 edition of BBC Newsnight edited Trump’s January 6 speech in a similar fashion. A Trump spokesperson said the latest revelations confirm “a pattern of defamation against President Trump” by the publicly funded broadcaster.
Though the BBC has tried to contain the damage with a public apology, the episode has fueled longstanding criticism of the network’s editorial bias—particularly regarding its coverage of Trump and populist movements in the United States. Whether Trump will move forward with his billion-dollar lawsuit remains to be seen.