The British Broadcasting Corp. issued a formal apology to Donald Trump on Thursday over the misleading edit of
the US president’s speech in a documentary program late last year, but rejected his demands for compensation.
BBC Chairman Samir Shah sent a personal letter to the White House “making clear to President Trump that he and
the corporation are sorry for the edit of the President’s speech on 6 January 2021, which featured in the programme,” the BBC said in a statement.
Separately, lawyers for the national broadcaster have written to Trump’s legal team in response to the president’s
threats of legal action, seeking no less than $1 billion in damages if th
e BBC didn’t issue an apology, retract the documentary and compensate the president appropriately for “harm caused.”
Read more: Judge Throws Out Trump’s $15B Lawsuit Against New York Times
“While the BBC sincerely regrets the manner in which the video clip was edited, we strongly disagree there is
a basis for a defamation claim,” the broadcaster said in a statement.
The BBC also said it would not rebroadcast the documentary Trump: A Second Chance? on any of its platforms.
The broadcaster will be hoping an apology will be enough to avoid a damaging defamation suit.
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UK Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said the corporation was “treating this seriously.”
“They are right to apologize for serious mistakes, they are right to have sought legal advice to respond robus
tly to that point,” she told the BBC’s Today program on Friday.
She added that the BBC hadn’t asked the government to intervene in its dispute with Trump.
In a letter Sunday, Trump attorney Alejandro Brito said if the BBC didn’t comply by Nov. 14 at 5 p.m. New York time, the president would “be left with no alternative but
to enforce his legal and equitable rights,” including by filing a lawsuit.
“It is now clear that BBC engaged in a pattern of defamation ag
ainst President Trump by intentionally and deceitfully editing his historic speech in order to try and interfere in th
e Presidential Election,” a spokesman for Trump’s legal team said Thur
sday. “President Trump will continue to hold accountable those who traffic in lies, deception, and fake news.”
The editing of the Panorama documentary spliced together two parts of Trump’s speech before the riot at the US Capito
l in a way that gave the
impression of a direct call for violent action. The controversy surround
ing the edit has embroiled the political and media establishment in the UK. BBC Director-general
Tim Davie and head of news Deborah Turness both stepped down days after the controversy came to light when t
he Daily Telegraph newspaper published a leaked memo from the network.
The BBC apology came after a second instance of misleading editing by the BBC came to light. A clip of the same
speech also aired on the BBC’s current affairs program Newsnight in 2022, the Telegraph reported on Thursday.
Trump has a history of taking legal action against media outlets for reporting the president sees as unfair or biased. By using, or threatening to use, the courts and his ad
ministration’s authority, Trump has already forced major concessions from some of the largest outlets in the US.