The BBC has apologized to US President Donald Trump for a Panorama episode that spliced parts of his 6 January 2021 speech together, but rejected his demands for compensation.
The corporation stated that the edit gave 'the mistaken impression that President Trump had made a direct call for violent action' and indicated it would not show the 2024 program again.
Trump's legal team has threatened a lawsuit for $1 billion (£759 million) in damages unless the BBC issues a retraction, an apology, and compensates him. The culture secretary expressed confidence that the BBC is addressing the matter seriously.
The fallout from the incident resulted in the resignations of BBC's director general Tim Davie and head of news Deborah Turness. BBC News has sought comments from the White House.
The apology surfaced shortly after the Daily Telegraph published another edited clip from a 2022 broadcast of a Newsnight program, leading to further scrutiny of how Trump's speech was portrayed.
In its Corrections and Clarifications section, the BBC acknowledged the mistake, saying, 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.\
While the BBC maintains its stance against a defamation claim, it has extended its regrets to Trump, affirming the unintentional nature of the edit.
