The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) issued a personal apology to US President Donald Trump on Thursday but said there is no basis for him to sue the public broadcaster over a documentary his lawyers called defamatory.
The documentary broadcast on the British Broadcasting Corporation’s “Panorama” news programme shortly before the US presidential election in 2024 combined three segments of Trump’s remarks on January 6, 2021, when his supporters invaded the Capitol. The edit made it appear as if he had called for violence.
“The BBC unreservedly apologizes for any offence the clip has caused,” the broadcaster said in a statement, “and we would be happy to set the record straight.”“The BBC stands by its journalism and speaks for itself,” it added.
Lawyers for the US president on Sunday warned they would sue the BBC for $1 billion in damages unless it drops the documentary, apologises to the president, and pays him compensation for “financial and reputational damage.’’
In arguing that Trump’s case is meritless, the company has — without quite saying so — also indicated it believes his claim for financial damages would be a loser. But the network did not respond directly to Trump’s financial request.
In its statement, the company said its chair, Samir Shah, on Thursday “wrote a personal letter to the White House making clear that he and the corporation were sorry for the edit.” Earlier in the week, Shah had apologised to a British parliamentary oversight committee and described the edit as “an error of judgment.”
In Thursday’s statement, the BBC said it has no plans to air the documentary on any of its services.
Earlier on Thursday, the BBC said it was investigating new claims, published in The Telegraph newspaper, about “Newsnight”, another of its programmes that edited the same speech.
The BBC has been plunged into its most serious crisis in decades after two of its top executives resigned following the bias claims, including around Trump’s speech. The allegations have emerged for the first time because of a leaked report by a BBC standards official.
Established in 1922 and paid for chiefly through a license fee charged to television-watching Britons, the BBC has no permanent leader, with a government that is considering how it should be funded in the years ahead.
It is a key tool of Britain’s “soft power” around the world, and Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that on Wednesday, he supported a “strong and independent” BBC.
