🔗 Share this article

The former US president's official spokesperson has described the BBC as "completely fake news" and a "biased media outlet" in a forthright discussion. These remarks follow claims of bias at the network.

Senior Administration Figure Condemns BBC Coverage

The White House official, a senior figure in the Trump administration, remarked that viewing BBC bulletins during trips 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 Address

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

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

The broadcast showed the leader saying he would walk with his followers to the Capitol prior to the disturbances on 6 January 2021, urging them to "struggle intensely". However, it omitted a portion of the talk where he advised the assembly "to express views calmly and loyally".

“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: "Whenever I journey to the United Kingdom with President Trump and am obliged 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 Memo Highlights Production Problems

The newspaper said its coverage was based on a memo written by a former adviser to the BBC's editorial guidelines committee. The expert departed his role earlier this year and has not commented on the file, understood to have been leaked by a insider.

An extract 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 Problems

The memo reportedly added that the ex-consultant had raised concerns about how BBC Arabic covered the war in Gaza.

The outlet said the author asserted there were "systemic problems", 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 main BBC website.

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

Censure of Trans Topics Coverage

The 19-page dossier is also said to have criticised the BBC's coverage of transgender issues, stating the broadcaster 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 trans issues were suppressed, with a "constant drip-feed of biased stories promoting the trans experience without adequate fairness or impartiality".

BBC Reply

In answer, the BBC stated: "While we don’t comment on leaked documents, when the BBC receives feedback it takes it seriously and considers it carefully."

"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."