🔗 Share this article

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 claims of bias at the broadcaster.

Senior Administration Figure Condemns BBC Reporting

Karoline Leavitt, a senior figure in the Trump administration, remarked that viewing BBC bulletins during visits to the UK "spoils" her day. She asserted that the public are "forced to foot the bill for a leftist propaganda machine."

Dispute Over Edited Speech

The spokesperson's comments emerged after MPs said the broadcaster had "significant concerns to answer" regarding how a speech by the American leader was modified in a BBC Panorama documentary.

A report leaked to a publication indicated that an installment of the news programme "thoroughly deceived" viewers by splicing two segments of the speech together.

The programme depicted the president saying he would walk with his followers to the Capitol ahead of the riots on January 6th, urging them to "struggle intensely". However, it omitted 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 added: "Every time I journey to the United Kingdom with President Trump and am obliged to watch the BBC in our hotel rooms, it mars my day listening to their blatant 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 Problems

The newspaper reported its coverage was based on a note authored by a former consultant to the BBC's editorial guidelines board. The expert departed his role earlier this year and has not spoken on the document, believed to have been leaked by a insider.

A passage published 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 Issues

The memo reportedly noted that the former adviser had raised worries about how BBC Arabic covered the war in Gaza.

The outlet claimed the author alleged there were "institutional issues", which had not been addressed by senior management. He supposedly cited "stark differences" between the reporting of the war on BBC Arabic and on the primary BBC site.

One issue pointed out was the frequent use of commentators who were antisemitic or pro-Hamas.

Censure of Transgender Issues Reporting

The lengthy dossier is also reported 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 raising complex questions about trans issues were suppressed, with a "constant drip-feed of one-sided stories celebrating the trans experience without adequate balance or impartiality".

BBC Response

In response, 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.|The ex-consultant previously advised a panel where varied perspectives on our reporting are regularly examined and contested."