Trump threatens BBC with a billion-dollar lawsuit over a "false, defamatory, and misleading" documentary

LondonThe BBC has intoned the mea culpa twelve hours after the resignation of the director general and the head of news, Tim Davie and Deborah Turness. Both resigned following allegations of bias and slanted treatment in relation to a documentary about Donald Trump and other issues, such as the Gaza war and coverage of gender and transgender people.

The corporation's chairman, Samir Shah, released a letter to Parliament on Monday stating: "The BBC wishes to apologize for this error in judgment," in reference to an episode of the program Panorama about Trump, broadcast the night before last year's election, and in which some of his words spoken during a speech fifty minutes apart on election day the assault on the Capitol (January 6, 2021) were edited to appear consecutive and gave the impression that the then-outgoing president was "inciting violence," according to Shah's letter. The network confirmed early this afternoon that it received a letter from the Republican threatening legal action for the manipulation.

Through his lawyer, the tycoon demands that the BBC "immediately broadcast a full and fair retraction of the documentary and any other false, defamatory, contemptible, deceitful, and inflammatory statements" about him "as prominently as they were originally broadcast." He also demands an apology—which Chairman Samir Shah has already issued, but not directly to Trump—and "that he be paid adequate compensation for the damages caused." Should this not occur by November 14 at the latest, Trump threatens to sue the corporation for one billion dollars. This is a tactic the Republican has employed repeatedly during his second term. In fact, He has filed a lawsuit against some of the media outlets most important in the United States.

In his statement to Parliament, Shah added that, since the publication in the ultraconservative newspaper The Daily Telegraph From an internal memo that warned of this and other issues, the controversy has generated more than 500 complaints that "are being processed through the usual channels."

Beyond any possible isolated errors, the crisis has once again highlighted the constant pressure that the British media and political right exerts on the BBC. Indeed, the leader of the Reform Party, Nigel Farage, has seized upon the resignation of the two aforementioned senior officials to accuse the network, once again, of "institutional bias" and of being in the hands of "an elite living in North London" that does not reflect "the broader vision of the country."

The accusations of "institutional bias" were denied this Monday by the resigning Deborah Turness upon her arrival at Broadcasting House in central London. Turner asserted that she took ultimate responsibility for any errors, but defended the institution: "I have resigned because the responsibility lies with me, but I want to make it clear that the BBC is not institutionally biased. It is the most trusted media outlet in the world." Asked about the corruption allegations made by Donald Trump, she replied: "Our journalists work hard and strive for impartiality."

On Friday, following various reports from The Daily TelegraphThe White House press secretary accused the BBC of "willful dishonesty" and of operating as a "left-wing propaganda machine." Hours after the resignations, Trump wrote on his social media account, Truth: "The BBC bosses have either resigned or been fired because they were caught manipulating my great speech on January 6," referring to the remarks made by supporters of the Republican, who had lost the election to Jones, that preceded the events at the Capitol.

The episode of Panorama The main object of the controversy was the editing of the president's words, 50 minutes apart, to the point that he seemed to be saying, as Samir Shah admitted: "We will walk to the Capitol... and I will be with you. And we will fight. We will fight tooth and nail," a phrase that could be interpreted as if the president himself, upon leaving, were explicitly addressing the issue. And while that wasn't literally the case, it is no less true that Trump, in a very ambiguous way, also said during more than an hour of speeches, among many other statements: "Because you will never take back our country in weakness. Here we will soon go to the Capitol to make your voices heard in a peaceful and patriotic manner."

A poorly managed crisis?

Several analysts agree that the internal handling of the case has exacerbated the crisis. According to sources at the network, management received a report from consultant Michael Prescott six months ago warning of editing problems but failed to react. Speaking to the same network, former BBC executive producer David Elstein, who had also worked on PanoramaHe called the error "unforgivable." But he attributed it to the fact that the program had been produced for an external production company "with no experience in current affairs." "In investigative journalism, you can't do this. The sad thing is that the BBC commissioner didn't detect it and that the production company didn't report what it had done." Elstein believes that "current affairs must be under internal control, because outsourcing parts of the process increases the risk of errors."

Within the corporation, opinions are very divided. According to the former editor of The Sun And current BBC podcast host David Yelland says the resignations are due to "an inside hand orchestrated by the BBC board": "There were people very close to the board who had long been undermining Tim Davie and his team."

Other voices disagree. The former director of The Daily TelegraphCharles Moore has asserted that "the BBC's bias always goes in the same direction, towards a metropolitan and progressive view on issues such as Brexit, climate change, Israel, and gender identity." This statement is hardly acceptable to any viewer or regular listener of news programs, such as this very correspondent. However, he added that the solution "is not to turn it into a right-wing media outlet, but to take impartiality seriously and appoint people capable of managing a gigantic and self-satisfied bureaucracy."

The crisis has erupted as the BBC enters two crucial years, since between 2026 and 2027 it will have to negotiate its Royal Charter, which will regulate its funding, largely based on license fees paid by some 28 million UK households. This new upheaval is valuable ammunition for those who want to destroy the BBC and a news model that, despite its successes and failures, continues to stand up to all kinds of challenges. fake news.