The Government has been assured the BBC is examining a report accusing the corporation of selectively editing a speech by Donald Trump on the day of the US Capitol attack.
Downing Street said Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy and senior officials in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport have received a copy of the memo, which reportedly claims viewers were misled by an edition of Panorama broadcast a week before last year’s US election.
The programme spliced clips together from sections of the US president’s speech on January 6 2021 to make it appear he told supporters he was going to walk to the Capitol with them to “fight like hell”.
Ms Nandy “expects the corporation to report the news accurately and impartially” and to look into issues around “editorial standards thoroughly”, according to No 10.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said “heads should roll” over the “fake news”.
Concerns over the editing were raised in a memo on impartiality by Michael Prescott, a former external adviser to the BBC’s editorial standards committee.
No 10 said it was up to the BBC to answer questions about its editorial decisions, and for regulator Ofcom to decide whether to investigate the issue.
The Prime Minister’s spokesman told reporters on Tuesday: “Senior officials in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport have received a copy of the dossier and have been assured by the BBC that they themselves are examining the issues raised in the report.
“The Culture Secretary is also being kept updated with these developments.
“Fundamentally, it’s crucial that the BBC upholds the highest standards of reporting and impartiality, so it’s trusted as our national broadcaster.
“We take any criticisms of the BBC’s editorial standards very seriously. We expect BBC to consider feedback that they receive seriously too and carefully.
“Because the BBC is independent of government, it’s for the corporation to respond to questions about their editorial decisions.
“You’ll also know that Ofcom, not government, is responsible for deciding whether to investigate such matters and for ensuring the BBC fulfils its obligations to audiences.”
The official added: “The Culture Secretary expects the corporation to report the news accurately and impartially, and she expects them to look into questions (about) editorial standards thoroughly, because that’s obviously important for the public’s trust.”
Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch urged BBC director-general Tim Davie to fire the person responsible for the video.
She told GB News: “It’s absolutely shocking. That is fake news. Actually putting different things together to try and make something look different from what it actually was.
“And I do think heads should roll. Whoever it was who did that should be sacked.
“That’s what Tim Davie should be doing, identifying who put out misinformation and sacking them.
“The public need to be able to trust our public broadcaster…
“This is a corporation that needs to hold itself to the highest standards, and that means that when we see people doing the wrong thing, they should be punished, they should be sacked.”
