BBC Accused of Manipulating Trump’s Capitol Speech
BBC faces allegations of editing footage from President Donald Trump's 6 January speech in a Panorama documentary broadcast just one week before the 2024 presidential election. A leaked 19-page dossier, shared by Michael Prescott, a former BBC standards committee member, claims the broadcaster altered quotes to suggest Trump incited the Capitol riot.
Details of the Alleged Manipulation
The dossier, first reported by The Telegraph, states that the BBC spliced together separate segments of Trump's speech to create a false impression that he encouraged supporters to start the Capitol events on 6 January 2021.
“We’re going to walk down to the Capitol. And we’re gonna cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women,”
Trump said to thousands of supporters on that day.
In contrast, the Panorama documentary edited this line to:
“We’re going to walk down to the Capitol and I’ll be there with you. We fight like hell.”
BBC’s Response
Addressing the controversy, a BBC spokesperson told The Telegraph:
“While we don’t comment on leaked documents, when the BBC receives feedback it takes it seriously and considers it carefully.”
Summary
The BBC is under scrutiny for allegedly altering Trump’s speech footage to portray him as inciting violence during the Capitol riot, raising concerns about media integrity before the 2024 election.