Donald Trump: I have a duty to sue the BBC for the way my speech was edited
Former U.S. President Donald Trump announced that he has a duty to sue the BBC for the way his speech was edited in the Panorama documentary and will seek one billion dollars in damages. He claims that his January 6, 2021, speech was butchered in the documentary and misled viewers.
Trump’s lawyers had previously asked the BBC to retract the documentary, apologize, and compensate him for damages.
In an interview with Fox News, Trump said that the network connected parts of his speech in a way that made it seem like he was encouraging people to riot in Congress, whereas the original speech was calm and did not convey this.
The issue began with the airing of the documentary ‘Trump: A Second Chance’ on October 20, 2023, in the UK.
A confidential memo from Michael Prescott, a former advisor to the BBC’s Editorial Standards Committee, revealed that parts of the speech were more than fifty minutes apart and were connected in a distorted manner.
This matter led to widespread protest and over 500 complaints to the BBC.
Following this scandal, Tim Davie, the Director-General of the BBC, and Deborah Turness, the head of news, resigned. Samir Shah, the Chairman of the BBC Board of Trustees, emphasized that the organization would take necessary actions to maintain public trust.
Trump has previously threatened to sue various media outlets and has reached financial settlements with CBS and ABC. He is also attempting to take legal action against the New York Times.