The former US president's press secretary has described the BBC as "100% fake news" and a "biased media outlet" in a blunt interview. These remarks follow allegations of partiality at the broadcaster.
White House Official Condemns BBC Coverage
Karoline Leavitt, a senior figure in the Trump administration, remarked that watching BBC news reports during trips to the UK "spoils" her day. She claimed that taxpayers are "compelled to foot the bill for a leftist propaganda machine."
Controversy Over Altered Speech
Leavitt's comments emerged after MPs said the broadcaster had "significant concerns to answer" regarding how a public address by the US president was edited in a BBC Panorama program.
A report leaked to a publication suggested that an episode of the current affairs programme "completely misled" audiences by combining two parts of the speech together.
The programme showed the president saying he would march with his followers to the Capitol prior to the riots on 6 January 2021, urging them to "fight like hell". However, it omitted a portion of the speech where he advised the crowd "to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard".
“This purposefully dishonest, selectively edited clip by the BBC is further evidence that they are total, 100% fake news that should no longer be worth the time on the television screens of the great people of the United Kingdom.”
The press secretary continued: "Every time I journey to the United Kingdom with President Trump and am forced 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 Document Highlights Production Problems
The newspaper said its reporting was based on a note written by a ex- consultant to the BBC's content standards committee. The expert departed his position earlier this year and has not spoken on the document, understood to have been revealed by a insider.
A passage published stated: "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."
Allegations of Widespread Problems
The memo allegedly noted that the former adviser had expressed worries about how BBC Arabic reported on the war in Gaza.
The newspaper claimed the adviser alleged there were "institutional issues", which had not been resolved by top executives. He supposedly cited "clear disparities" between the reporting of the hostilities on BBC Arabic and on the primary BBC site.
One issue highlighted was the frequent use of commentators who were prejudiced against Jewish people or pro-Hamas.
Criticism of Transgender Topics Reporting
The lengthy dossier is also said to have criticised the BBC's handling of transgender issues, saying the broadcaster had been "influenced 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 reported to have alleged that stories posing challenging questions about trans issues were downplayed, with a "steady stream of biased stories promoting the trans experience without adequate balance or impartiality".
The Broadcaster Response
In answer, the BBC said: "Although we refrain from discussing disclosed papers, the BBC treats all input earnestly and reviews it thoroughly."
"The former adviser is a former adviser to a board committee where differing views and opinions of our coverage are routinely discussed and debated.|The ex-consultant previously advised a panel where varied perspectives on our reporting are regularly examined and contested."
