Embattled BBC braces for Trump backlash after rejecting President’s proper to damages… as Corporation’s boss declares: ‘It’s been a tough week’
The BBC was braced for a backlash from Donald Trump tonight as its chairman warned staff of ‘challenging circumstances’.
Samir Shah said it had been ‘a difficult week’ as Corporation chiefs waited for an expected blast from the US President after it refused to meet all of his demands in the wake of the row over an edited speech.
Mr Trump set a deadline of Friday night (November 14) for a full retraction, grovelling apology and offer of compensation – or he would sue for $1billion (£760million) over a misleading edit of his speech before the Capitol riot.
Corporation chiefs opted to defy the challenge, issuing an apology on Thursday night for the edit shown on its Panorama programme – but refusing to concede Mr Trump had a legal right to damages.
Editors produced a clip of Mr Trump exhorting supporters on January 6, 2021, to ‘walk down to the Capitol’ with him and ‘fight like hell’ – but they had spliced together two statements he made about an hour apart. Insiders said they were expecting a fierce response from the President.
In a letter to BBC staff today, seen by the Daily Mail, Mr Shah said he had written to ‘President Trump personally to extend my apology’ but that ‘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’.
Mr Shah thanked staff for their resilience in what ‘I fully appreciate have been challenging circumstances’.
The BBC has admitted ‘that our edit unintentionally created the impression that we were showing a single continuous section of the speech… and that this gave the mistaken impression that President Trump had made a direct call for violent action.’
Mr Trump set a deadline of Friday night for a full retraction, grovelling apology and offer of compensation – or he would sue for $1billion (£760million) over a misleading edit of his speech before the Capitol riot
The BBC director-general Tim Davie and Deborah Turness, the head of BBC News, both fell on their swords on Sunday.
Earlier this week, Mr Trump remarked: ‘I guess I have to [sue]. Why not? They defrauded the public and they’ve admitted it. This is within one of our great allies, supposedly our great ally. That’s a pretty sad event.
‘They actually changed my January 6 speech, which was a beautiful speech, which was a very calming speech, and they made it sound radical.’
Mr Trump told Fox News he would be ‘left with no alternative but to enforce his legal and equitable rights… including by filing legal action for no less than $1,000,000,000 in damages,’ if the BBC failed to act.
The BBC’s legal team sent Mr Trump a letter setting out five reasons why it does not think it has a case to answer, including the fact the documentary was restricted to viewers in the UK, did not cause Mr Trump any harm – as he was re-elected – and ‘was not designed to mislead, but just to shorten a long speech’.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the Corporation’s editorial standards and guidelines were ‘in some cases not robust enough and in other cases not consistently applied’.
Ms Nandy also hinted she could block political appointees from the BBC’s board as she was asked whether Sir Robbie Gibb, a board member and Theresa May’s ex-communications director, had overstepped his remit.
Unions and MPs have demanded Sir Robbie’s removal after he was blamed for the report that raised concerns about the editing of Mr Trump’s speech. Ms Nandy said the perception of political influence was a ‘problem’ she would examine at the next charter review.
