At a glance
Former BBC advisor Michael Prescott has accused the BBC’s Panorama of misleading viewers by editing separate parts of Donald Trump’s January 6 speech together, making it seem as though he directly urged supporters to storm the Capitol.
A leaked memo from Prescott alleges senior BBC executives ignored serious complaints from the internal standards watchdog
Critics, including the shadow culture secretary, have called for an immediate investigation, warning that the alleged manipulation could undermine trust in the BBC
The BBC has been accused of editing a Donald Trump speech to make it appear as though he encouraged the Capitol Hill riot in 2021, according to a former external advisor to the corporation.
In a clip from a Panorama programme, broadcast before the election, Trump appears to tell supporters: “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol…and I’ll be there with you. And we fight, we fight like hell.”
But the words were taken from different sections of his speech, nearly an hour apart.
In the original footage, his language is more restrained: “We’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women,” adding his supporters will march “peacefully and patriotically” to make their voices heard.
The concerns were raised in a memo by former journalist Michael Prescott, who was also an independent external advisor to the BBC’s standards committee. He left his role in the summer.
Five people, including a police officer, were killed when a mob of roughly 2,000 Donald Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, after he lost the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden.
US senators were meeting in the Capitol to certify the election results when Trump, who was still president at the time, addressed a large crowd of supporters.
He urged them to march “peacefully” to the White House, but also made unsubstantiated claims of mass voter fraud and told them to “fight like hell”.
Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives for “incitement of insurrection” but was subsequently acquitted by the Senate.
The document, first reported by The Telegraph, accused the BBC programme of making Trump “say things he never actually said” by putting together lines from different moments in his speech.
Calls have since been made for an immediate investigation into how the Panorama documentary was approved for broadcast, with critics accusing the corporation of ‘misleading’ viewers.
According to the dossier, senior BBC executives and the corporation’s chairman failed to act on a number of serious complaints from the internal standards watchdog.
Other excerpts of the memo will be published soon, which reportedly accuse the BBC’s Arabic service of bias over its coverage of the war in Gaza.
In response to the memo, Nigel Huddleston, the shadow culture secretary, said: “These are extremely concerning revelations that could seriously undermine the brand and reputation of the BBC.
“The BBC licence fee is justified on the basis of impartiality and trust.
“There can be no justification for this kind of deliberate manipulation and the spreading of misinformation.
“This is not the first time that evidence of bias at the BBC has emerged, but it is one of the most stark and alarming examples to date.
“Licence-fee payers deserve an immediate explanation and apology from the BBC, and a thorough investigation into this scandal must take place.”
In a covering letter to the dossier, sent to the BBC’s board, Prescott reportedly said he was circulating the document out of “despair at the inaction by the BBC executive when issues come to light.”
Prescott said in his report: “It was completely misleading to edit the clip in the way Panorama aired it. The fact that [Trump] did not explicitly exhort supporters to go down and fight at Capitol Hill was one of the reasons there were no federal charges for incitement to riot.”
In the Panorama programme, Trump appears 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.”
This was accompanied by foreboding music and appears to show three separate parts of Trump’s speech merged together.
In the full speech, Trump says: “We’re gonna walk down, and I’ll be there with you, we’re gonna walk down, we’re gonna walk down any one you want but I think right here, we’re gonna walk down to the Capitol and we’re gonna cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women and we’re probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them because you’ll never take back our country with weakness, you have to show strength and you have to be strong… I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.”
Around one hour later, Trump talks about “corrupt” elections, telling voters they need to “fight like hell, and if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not gonna have a country any more.”
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.
“Michael Prescott is a former adviser to a board committee where differing views and opinions of our coverage are routinely discussed and debated.”
