THE BBC will issue a grovelling apology for doctoring a Donald Trump speech after the US President accused the broadcaster of “outright lies”.
According to a leaked memo, the BBC had “completely misled” viewers by how it spliced together footage of a Donald Trump speech.
A Panorama episode broadcast a week before last year’s US election appeared to make Trump encourage the Capitol Hill riot in 2021.
Now, the broadcaster is set to apologise for the way they spliced together the January 6 footage, according to The Telegraph.
According to the outlet, the evidence was contained within a dossier on bias by an ex-member of the BBC’s standards committee, which claims executives ignored its own watchdog’s complaints.
BBC Chairman, Samir Shah, will reportedly write to the culture, media, and sport committee on Monday to say sorry for the doctored footage.
It piles pressure onto BBC director, Tim Davie, with senior MPs having already called for an urgent probe.
Tory leader, Kemi Badenoch, said “heads should roll” at the BBC for misleading its viewers over the President’s remarks.
Questions will now have to be answered on why bosses at the corporation decided to remain tight-lipped on the scandal.
The Panorama special Trump: A Second Chance? was broadcast in October last year, just before Americans prepared to go to the polls.
In the programme, Mr Trump appeared to say: “We’re gonna walk down to the Capitol and I’ll be there with you and we fight.
“We fight like hell and if you don’t fight like hell you’re not gonna have a country any more.”
But what Mr Trump said was: “We’re gonna walk down, and I’ll be there with you…we’re gonna walk down to the Capitol and we’re gonna cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women.
“I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.”
Around 54 minutes later, when Mr Trump was talking about elections being “corrupt”, he said: “We fight like hell, and if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not gonna have a country any more.”
The grovelling apology comes after The White house accused the broadcaster of “outright lies” over the “deceptive editing”.
First reported by The Telegraph, the leaked memo was written by Michael Prescott, who until June was an independent adviser to the BBC’s Editorial Guidelines and Standards Committees.
It also made allegations of “effective censorship” over its reporting on transgender issues and separately accused BBC Arabic of seeking to “minimise Israeli suffering”.
BBC News chief executive, Deborah Turness, wrote to staff on Friday in an attempt to get on top of the scandal.
She wrote in an email: “It’s always difficult when the BBC becomes a story — as it has, in some quarters, this week.
“Like you, I work here because I care passionately about trusted news and impartial journalism.
“I take pride every day in the quality and consistency of BBC News, and I know that is down to all of you — your unwavering commitment to our editorial values and your expertise.”
