The White House under Donald Trump has taken aim at the BBC amidst controversy surrounding a Panorama episode alleged to have manipulated a video of the President. This dispute has drawn attention not just from viewers but also from individuals formerly involved in the broadcaster’s oversight.
Michael Prescott, who served for three years as an independent adviser to the BBC’s Editorial Guidelines and Standards Committee, sent an internal report to the BBC Board highlighting concerns about the broadcaster’s practices. Prescott’s dossier, submitted last month, claims that previous warnings to the standards committee were ignored, prompting him to take further action.
In his memo, Prescott accuses the BBC of altering a speech by Donald Trump to falsely suggest he incited the Capitol Hill riots. The Panorama episode in question aired in October 2024, presenting a skewed version of Trump’s words. The edited footage appeared to show Trump urging supporters to “fight like hell,” while omitting his call for a “peaceful and patriotic” demonstration.
The controversy has intensified as Trump’s press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, denounced the broadcast as “100 percent fake news.” The incident has sparked international scrutiny, with calls for BBC leaders Tim Davie and Deborah Turness to provide clarity on the matter.
Leavitt criticized the clip as a deliberate act of dishonesty, asserting that the BBC’s actions undermine its credibility. She remarked, “This purposefully dishonest, selectively edited clip by the BBC is further evidence that they are total, 100 percent fake news that should no longer be worth the time on the television screens of the great people of the United Kingdom.”
She said: ‘This purposefully dishonest, selectively edited clip by the BBC is further evidence that they are total, 100 per cent fake news that should no longer be worth the time on the television screens of the great people of the United Kingdom.
‘Every time I travel to the United Kingdom with President Trump and am forced to watch the BBC in our hotel rooms, it ruins my day listening to their blatant propaganda and lies about the president of the United States and all that he’s doing to make America better and the world a safer place.’
The press secretary stopped short of demanding the BBC end it’s license fee.
Donald Trump in the Oval Office yesterday. Trump’ White House has now waded into the Panorama scandal engulfing the BBC
The BBC’s chief Tim Davie is now facing mounting international pressure after the corporation aired doctored footage of the US President
Ms Leavitt did however tell the Daily Telegraph that British taxpayers were being ‘forced to foot the bill for a Leftist propaganda machine’.
The public broadcaster also found itself in the firing line of Trump’s White House earlier this week when Ms Leavitt called out the BBC for its coverage of the Israel-Gaza conflict.
Speaking at a press conference, Ms Leavitt brandished a printout of stories published on the BBC website.
She described how headlines about deaths at a food distribution site had changed from claiming an Israeli tank had killed 26 people, to 21 people, to gunfire killing 31.
Writing in his Daily Mail column today, Boris Johnson has said he will stop paying his TV license until Mr Davie explains what happened with the doctured clip or resigns.
‘No one has even come close to resigning. It won’t do. On behalf of millions of loyal BBC licence payers (£174.50 per year, just for the right to watch TV), my message to Mr Davie is: Come on, Buster; We pay your wages,’ wrote the former PM.
‘Come out from your bunker in Portland Square. Come out from your tint-windowed limo. This thing is an absolute scandal, and it is not going away.’
Meanwhile, other complaints in the memo accuse the corporation of ‘effective censorship’ of its coverage of the transgender debate and also takes aim at the BBC’s Arabic service of bias over its coverage of the war in Gaza.
Now, Trump’s press secretary Karoline Leavitt (pictured) has waded into the debate dismissing the clip as ‘100 per cent fake news’
Danny Cohen, the former director of BBC Television, who is a long-time critic of Tim Davie has also called for the BBC boss to step down.
He told the Daily Mail earlier this week: ‘I think it’s three scandals too many when it comes to Tim Davie. I think, at last, someone should take responsibility. The BBC needs to show that it takes these problems seriously and will take steps to restore trust.’
‘If it attempts to bury its head in the sand and ignore a report prepared by an independent advisor who had access to what was going on in the BBC, then it’s lost its reputation.’
He also added: ‘That the BBC has helped to push Hamas lies around the world and fuelled anti-Semitism at home cannot now be in doubt.’
‘So I think we need change at the top, and we need significant reform within the organisation to deal with that.’
The all-party culture, media and sport select committee will also write to BBC chairman Samir Shah with a series of questions raised by the report.
Dame Caroline Dinenage MP, chair of the committee, said: ‘The BBC clearly has serious questions to answer regarding both its editorial standards and the way in which concerns are handled by senior management.’
‘The corporation must set the benchmark for accurate and fair reporting, especially in a media landscape where it is all too easy to find news presented in a less than impartial way.’
‘The Committee needs to be reassured that those at the very top of the BBC are treating these issues with the seriousness they deserve and taking decisive steps to uphold the corporation’s reputation for integrity and public trust.’
A BBC spokesperson said: ‘While we don’t comment on leaked documents, when the BBC receives feedback it takes it seriously and considers it carefully.
‘With regard to BBC News Arabic, where mistakes have been made or errors have occurred we have acknowledged them at the time and taken action.
‘We have also previously acknowledged that certain contributors should not have been used and have improved our processes to avoid a repeat of this.’
