BBC Apologises to Trump for Panorama Editing Error but Rejects Compensation Demand

The BBC has issued an apology to former United States President Donald Trump for an edited sequence in a Panorama documentary that spliced together separate parts of one of his speeches. However, the corporation has firmly refused Trump’s demand for financial compensation and says it will not rebroadcast the programme.

The dispute escalated after Trump’s lawyers threatened to sue the BBC for one billion dollars unless the broadcaster retracted the documentary, apologised publicly, and awarded damages. The controversy intensified further when the Daily Telegraph revealed a second edited clip involving Trump that had been broadcast on Newsnight in 2022.

A BBC spokesperson confirmed that the corporation has responded to Trump’s legal team. “Lawyers for the BBC have written to President Trump’s legal team in response to a letter received on Sunday,” the spokesperson said. They also confirmed that BBC chair Samir Shah had sent a personal letter to the White House apologising for the way Trump’s words were edited in the January 6, 2021 sequence used in the documentary.

Shah expressed regret and assured the former president that the edit was unacceptable. The spokesperson added that the BBC has “no plans to rebroadcast the documentary Trump: A Second Chance? on any BBC platforms.” However, the corporation remains firm in its rejection of Trump’s claim that the edit is grounds for defamation. “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,” the spokesperson said.

In its Corrections and Clarifications section, the BBC acknowledged that the Panorama team had used excerpts taken from different points in Trump’s forty minute speech. “We accept that our edit unintentionally created the impression that we were showing a single continuous section of the speech,” the correction stated. “This gave the mistaken impression that President Trump had made a direct call for violent action.”

In the original speech on January 6, 2021, Trump first urged supporters to walk to the Capitol to support Republican lawmakers. More than fifty minutes later in the same speech, he said, “And we fight, we fight like hell.” Panorama’s version placed those lines side by side, creating a much stronger impression of incitement than intended.

Trump told Fox News that the edited clip had “butchered” his remarks and “defrauded” the audience. The fallout from the controversy has been significant. BBC director general Tim Davie and head of news Deborah Turness both resigned following wider scrutiny of editorial practices inside the organisation.

Trump’s lawyers issued their demand letter on Sunday, calling for a retraction, an apology, and compensation for “harm caused.” They set a strict deadline for the BBC to respond by Friday evening, prompting the corporation’s formal reply.