The BBC apologized to US President Donald Trump for a Panorama episode that edited parts of his speech on January 6, 2021, but rejected his demands for compensation.
The corporation stated that the cut gave “the mistaken impression that President Trump had made a direct call for violent action” and that the 2024 program will not be shown again.
Trump’s lawyers have vowed to sue the BBC for $1 billion (£759 million) unless it issues a retraction, apologizes, and compensates him.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy told BBC Breakfast that she was satisfied the corporation was “taking this seriously,” and that her responsibility was to ensure “the highest standards are upheld.”
However, she also told BBC Radio 4’s Today program that the BBC’s editorial standards and procedures were “in some cases not robust enough and in other cases not consistently applied,” adding that there would need to be people “at a very senior level with a journalistic background.”
Political appointments to the BBC’s board will be considered during the corporation’s charter review, she said in answer to a query about whether member Sir Robbie Gibb, a former political adviser to Theresa May, had overstepped his scope and been involved in politics.
While this was a concern for the board and its chairman, she stated that the appointments “damaged confidence and trust in the BBC’s impartiality.”
On Thursday, Liberal Democrats leader Sir Ed Davey urged the prime minister to “get on the phone to Trump” to terminate his lawsuit threat and “defend the impartiality and independence of the BBC.”
The impact from the controversy prompted the resignations of BBC director general Tim Davie and head of news Deborah Turness on Sunday.
BBC News has contacted the White House for comment.
The apology comes only hours after the Daily Telegraph disclosed a second, similarly edited clip that will air on Newsnight in 2022.
The BBC’s Corrections and Clarifications section, issued on Thursday evening, stated that the Panorama episode had been reviewed following criticism of how Trump’s address was edited.
The BBC had been given till 22:00 GMT (17:00 EST) on Friday to react.
“We accept that our edit unintentionally created the impression that we were showing a single continuous section of the speech, rather than excerpts from different points in the speech, and that this gave the mistaken impression that President Trump had made a direct call for violent action,” the statement said.
A BBC spokesman confirmed that lawyers have responded to President Trump’s legal team in response to a letter received on Sunday.
“BBC chair Samir Shah has separately 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 program,” they said.
They added, “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.”
In Trump’s speech he said, “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women.”
More than almost 50 minutes into the address, he said, “And we fight.” “We fight like hell!”
In the Panorama segment, he says, “We’re going to stroll down to the Capitol… and I’ll be there with you. And we fought.” We fight like hell!”
Trump told Fox News that his speech had been “butchered” and that the presentation had “defrauded” viewers.
The BBC got the letter from Trump’s lawyers on Sunday. It requests a “full and fair retraction” of the program, an apology, and that the BBC “appropriately compensate President Trump for the harm caused.”
In its letter to Trump’s legal team, the BBC lays out five primary reasons why it does not believe it has a case to answer.
First, it claims that the BBC did not have the rights to broadcast the Panorama episode on its US stations and did not distribute it.
When the documentary was made available on BBC iPlayer, only UK audiences could watch it.
Second, it claims that the documentary did not affect Trump, as he was re-elected shortly afterward.
Third, it states that the footage was not intended to deceive but rather to condense a lengthy lecture and that the edit was done without malice.
Fourth, it states that the clip was never intended to be considered in isolation. Rather, it was 12 seconds of an hour-long presentation that also featured many voices in support of Trump.
Finally, an opinion on an issue of public interest, as well as political expression, is severely protected by defamation laws in the United States.
According to a BBC insider, there is widespread support for the corporation’s argument and defense.
Earlier on Thursday, the BBC was accused of making another misleading edit of Trump’s speech on January 6, 2021, two years before the Panorama episode aired.
The cut on a Newsnight program from 2022 differs slightly from Panorama.
Trump is shown saying, “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol.” And we will cheer on our gallant senators, congressmen, and ladies. And we fought. We fight like hell. And if you don’t fight like hell, you’ll lose your country.”
This was followed by a voiceover from broadcaster Kirsty Wark declaring, “And fight they did,” over footage of the Capitol riots.
Former White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, who departed a diplomatic post and became a critic of Trump after labeling the 6 January rioting as an “attempted coup,” said the video “spliced together” Trump’s speech.
“That line about ‘we fight and fight like hell’ is actually later in the speech, and yet your video makes it look like those two things came together,” according to him.
In reaction to Thursday’s Telegraph piece, a BBC representative stated that the BBC maintains the “highest editorial standards” and that the situation was being investigated.
A spokesman for Trump’s legal team told the Telegraph that it was “now clear that BBC engaged in a pattern of defamation against President Trump.”
Issues over the Trump Panorama documentary emerged when a leaked internal memo, written by a former independent external adviser to the corporation’s editorial standards committee, was published by the Telegraph.
The memo criticized the BBC’s reporting on trans issues and BBC Arabic’s co-production.
