London:
The BBC has formally apologized to US President Donald Trump for the editing done in the Panorama program regarding his speech on January 6, 2021.
However, he has rejected President Trump’s demands for compensation, saying that he will not pay him any financial compensation.
The BBC said in a statement that the editing resulted in the false impression that President Trump had directly encouraged violent action and clarified that the program would not be broadcast again.
It should be noted that Trump’s lawyers have threatened to sue the BBC for a billion dollars in damages, and have demanded that the BBC officially apologize for its actions and pay him financial compensation.
Following the controversy, BBC director-general Tim Davey and head of news Deborah Ternans resigned from their posts on Sunday.
BBC News has requested comment from the White House on the matter following the official apology.
The BBC’s apology comes after a similarly edited clip aired on Newsnight in 2022, revealed by the Daily Telegraph.
The BBC issued a statement in its Corrections and Clarifications section on Thursday evening saying the Panorama program had been reviewed following criticism.
“We acknowledge that our editing created the impression that we were showing a sequence of President Trump’s speech, even though they were excerpts from different parts of the speech, and that it gave the false impression that President Trump directly called for violent action,” the statement said.
The BBC’s lawyers have sent a written response to the letter received by President Trump’s legal team on Sunday.
BBC chair Samar Shah has sent a separate personal letter to the White House, making it clear to President Trump that the BBC and himself apologize for the editing of the president’s January 6, 2021 speech, a BBC spokesperson said.
“While the BBC deeply regrets this editing, we strongly disagree that any claim of defamation is made in this matter,” he added.
