🔗 Share this article

Donald Trump's official spokesperson has described the BBC as "100% fake news" and a "propaganda machine" in a forthright discussion. These remarks follow claims of bias at the broadcaster.

White House Official Condemns BBC Reporting

Karoline Leavitt, a high-ranking representative in the previous US government, stated that viewing BBC news reports during visits to the UK "spoils" her day. She asserted that taxpayers are "compelled to foot the bill for a liberal propaganda machine."

Controversy Over Edited Speech

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

A document leaked to a newspaper indicated that an episode of the current affairs programme "thoroughly deceived" viewers by splicing two segments of the oration together.

The broadcast depicted the leader saying he would walk with his supporters to the Capitol prior to the riots on January 6th, encouraging them to "fight like hell". However, it excluded a portion of the talk 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.”

Leavitt continued: "Whenever I travel to the United Kingdom with President Trump and am forced to watch the BBC in our hotel rooms, it mars 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 Highlights Editing Issues

The newspaper said its coverage was based on a memo authored by a former adviser to the BBC's editorial guidelines committee. The adviser left his role recently and has not commented on the document, understood to have been revealed by a insider.

An extract released read: ""Editing the footage as Panorama broadcast it was utterly deceptive. The absence of a direct call for supporters to march and battle at Capitol Hill partly explained why no federal incitement charges were filed."

Claims of Systemic Problems

The report allegedly noted that the ex-consultant had raised concerns about how BBC Arabic covered the conflict in Gaza.

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

One matter highlighted was the frequent use of commentators who were antisemitic or pro-Hamas.

Criticism of Trans Issues Coverage

The lengthy dossier is also said to have criticised the BBC's handling of transgender issues, saying the network had been "influenced by a small group of [staff] promoting the Stonewall view" of sexual identity issues and that its LGBT desk would "decline to cover any stories raising difficult questions".

It is reported to have alleged that stories posing complex questions about transgender matters were suppressed, with a "constant drip-feed of biased stories celebrating the trans experience without adequate balance or impartiality".

BBC Reply

In answer, 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."