The BBC apologised on Monday for editing a speech that gave the impression US President Donald Trump made “a direct call for violent action” just before the 2021 US Capitol assault, calling it “an error of judgement”.
A growing furore around the issue prompted the dramatic resignations on Sunday of two of the broadcaster’s top brass and celebrations — as well as a rebuke — from the White House.
It has also reopened debate in the UK over the BBC, cherished by many but which has faced long-standing accusations of institutional bias, regularly from those on the political right and, more recently, from those on the left as well.
In a letter to MPs on Monday, BBC chairman Samir Shah said it accepted that the way Trump’s speech was edited in a flagship documentary “did give the impression of a direct call for violent action”.
“The BBC would like to apologise for that error of judgement,” he added, vowing to reform oversight at the publicly funded broadcaster, among other things.
It came hours after director general Tim Davie and BBC News CEO Deborah Turness resigned amid the escalating backlash over the issue.
Trump promptly celebrated, accusing BBC journalists of being “corrupt” and “dishonest”. His press secretary called the broadcaster “100-percent fake news”.
But Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s spokesman pushed back on Monday.
“The BBC has a vital role in an age of disinformation,” he said, although he stressed: “It’s important that the BBC acts swiftly to maintain trust and correct mistakes quickly when they occur.”
– ‘Failures’ –
The row comes as the government prepares to begin a politically sensitive review of the BBC’s charter, which outlines the corporation’s governance and funding framework. The current charter ends in 2027.
The broadcaster, which has faced a prolonged period of stretched finances and cut hundreds of jobs in recent years, is funded by a licence fee paid by anyone who watches live TV in the UK.
Some have welcomed the resignations as a timely reckoning for the British institution, while others fear the influence of right-wing detractors, including in the United States.
Former BBC journalist Karen Fowler-Watt, head of the journalism department at City St George’s University in London, told AFP the institution was “now really in a situation of crisis”.
She noted it was “very difficult not to see this as a right-wing attack, given the media ecosystem in which we all now live”.
Former Conservative prime minister Boris Johnson had threatened to stop paying his licence fee, while current Tory party leader Kemi Badenoch welcomed the resignations following a “catalogue of serious failures”.
But Ed Davey, leader of the centrist Liberal Democrats, urged Starmer to tell Trump to “keep his hands off” the BBC.
“It’s easy to see why Trump wants to destroy the world’s number one news source,” he said. “We can’t let him.”
– Controversies –
On the streets of central London, Britons were both critical and sympathetic towards the broadcaster.
Jimmy, who works in construction and declined to give his surname, told AFP the BBC’s reputation had been “tarnished” and it had “shown that they’re not impartial”.
But 78-year-old writer Jennifer Kavanagh said it has “always been attacked from the right and from the left”.
“They can never get it right,” said Kavanagh.
The crisis grew after the right-wing Daily Telegraph newspaper reported last week that impartiality concerns were raised in an internal memo by Michael Prescott, a former external standards adviser.
Among them was criticism over clips spliced together from sections of Trump’s speech on January 6, 2021, when he was accused of fomenting the mob attack on the US Capitol following the 2020 US presidential election.
The edit made it appear that Trump had told supporters he was going to walk to the US Capitol with them and “fight like hell”.
In the undoctored clip, however, the president urged the audience in the intervening period to walk with him and added: “And we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women.”
Earlier this year, the BBC apologised for “serious flaws” in the making of another documentary, about Gaza, which the UK’s media watchdog deemed “materially misleading”.
It also faced criticism for failing to pull a livestream of punk-rap duo Bob Vylan during this year’s Glastonbury festival after its frontman made anti-Israel comments.
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