🔗 Share this article

Donald Trump's press secretary has described the BBC as "completely fake news" and a "biased media outlet" in a forthright discussion. This comes allegations of partiality at the broadcaster.

Senior Administration Figure Criticizes BBC Coverage

Karoline Leavitt, a senior figure in the Trump administration, stated that watching BBC bulletins during visits to the UK "ruins" her day. She claimed that the public are "compelled to foot the bill for a liberal propaganda machine."

Dispute Over Altered Address

Leavitt's comments came after MPs said the corporation had "serious questions to answer" regarding how a speech by the American leader was modified in a BBC Panorama documentary.

A report leaked to a newspaper indicated that an episode of the current affairs programme "thoroughly deceived" audiences by splicing two segments of the speech together.

The broadcast showed the president saying he would walk with his followers to the Capitol ahead of the disturbances on January 6th, urging them to "fight like hell". Nevertheless, it excluded a section of the speech where he advised the assembly "to express views calmly and loyally".

“This intentionally deceptive, carefully cut footage from the BBC further proves they are entirely, 100% fake news, unworthy of airtime on the screens of the UK's admirable citizens.”

Leavitt continued: "Every time I travel to the United Kingdom with President Trump and am obliged to watch the BBC in our hotel rooms, it ruins my day listening to their overt propaganda and lies about the president of the United States and all that he’s doing to make America better and the world a safer place."

Disclosed Memo Emphasizes Editing Issues

The newspaper said its coverage was based on a note authored by a former consultant to the BBC's content standards board. The expert left his position earlier this year and has not spoken on the file, believed to have been revealed by a insider.

A passage published read: "It was completely misleading to edit the clip in the way Panorama aired it. The fact that he 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."

Claims of Widespread Issues

The memo allegedly added that the ex-consultant had raised worries about how BBC Arabic reported on the conflict in Gaza.

The newspaper said the author alleged there were "systemic problems", which had not been resolved by top executives. He supposedly cited "stark differences" between the reporting of the hostilities on BBC Arabic and on the main BBC website.

One issue highlighted was the repeated use of commentators who were antisemitic or pro-Hamas.

Censure of Transgender Issues Coverage

The 19-page file is also said to have criticised the BBC's coverage of gender identity matters, stating the network had been "captured by a small group of [staff] promoting the Stonewall view" of gender identity issues and that its LGBT unit would "decline to cover any stories raising difficult questions".

It is said to have claimed that stories posing challenging questions about transgender matters were suppressed, with a "steady stream of one-sided stories promoting the trans experience without adequate fairness or objectivity".

The Broadcaster Response

In response, the BBC said: "Although we refrain from discussing disclosed papers, the BBC treats all input earnestly and reviews it thoroughly."

"Michael Prescott is a former adviser to a board committee where differing views and opinions of our coverage are routinely discussed and debated.|He previously advised a panel where varied perspectives on our reporting are regularly examined and contested."