BBC Apologizes to Trump But Refuses to Pay Him: ‘Strong Belief’ They Have Solid Legal Defense

BBC Headquarters (Press Association via AP Images)

Now don’t be sad (don’t be sad ’cause)
‘Cause two out of three ain’t bad
Now don’t be sad (’cause)
‘Cause two out of three ain’t bad

– “Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad” by Meatloaf, 1978.

This week, President Donald Trump demanded that the BBC retract a documentary with an inaccurate edit of one of his quotes, apologize, and “appropriately compensate” him “for the harm caused” with a Friday deadline.

On Thursday, he got two out of three.

The controversy stems from a 2024 Panorama documentary that used an edited clip of Trump’s speech on Jan. 6, 2021 that immediately preceded the violent riot at the U.S. Capitol, as his supporters stormed the building to disrupt the certification of the Electoral College votes for President Joe Biden.

The edited clip had Trump saying: “We’re gonna walk down to the Capitol and I’ll be there with you and we fight. We fight like hell, and if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not gonna have a country anymore.”

However, that was a combination of different sections of his speech. That specific phrase as Trump said it that day, near the beginning of his remarks, was: “We’re gonna walk down, and I’ll be there with you, we’re gonna walk down, we’re gonna walk down any one you want but I think right here, we’re gonna walk down to the Capitol and we’re gonna cheer on our brave senators and congressmen.”

The part where Trump said, “And we fight. We fight like hell. And if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore,” was closer to the end of his speech. A video and transcript of Trump’s full speech can be reviewed here, as posted by NPR.

In the aftermath, BBC Director General Tim Davie and News chief Deborah Turness resigned, and Trump’s lawyers sent a letter to the public broadcaster threatening to sue for a whopping $1 billion unless the BBC met three demands: issue a “full and fair retraction” of the documentary, apologize to Trump, and “appropriately compensate President Trump for the harm caused.”

Thursday evening, the BBC posted in its “Clarifications and Corrections” section a statement regarding the Panorama documentary. In the statement, the BBC acknowledged that the segment with Trump’s January 6th speech “showed excerpts taken from different parts of the speech.”

“[W]e accept that our edit unintentionally created the impression that we were showing a single continuous section of the speech, rather than excerpts from different points in the speech, and that this gave the mistaken impression that President Trump had made a direct call for violent action,” the statement continued.

And then, the requested apology: “The BBC would like to apologise to President Trump for that error of judgement.”

“This programme was not scheduled to be re-broadcast and will not be broadcast again in this form on any BBC platforms,” the statement concluded.

In an article on its website, the BBC further reported that chair Samir Shah “separately sent a personal letter to the White House making clear to President Trump that he and the corporation are sorry for the edit of the president’s speech on 6 January 2021.”

“While the BBC sincerely regrets the manner in which the video clip was edited, we strongly disagree there is a basis for a defamation claim,” a BBC spokesperson said.

The BBC article cited a network “insider” who “said that internally, there is a strong belief in the case the corporation has put forward, and in its defence,” and listed five arguments the BBC’s lawyers put in the letter responding to Trump’s lawyers:

First it says the BBC did not have the rights to, and did not, distribute the Panorama episode on its US channels.
When the documentary was available on BBC iPlayer, it was restricted to viewers in the UK.

Secondly, it says the documentary did not cause Trump harm, as he was re-elected shortly after.

Thirdly, it says the clip was not designed to mislead, but just to shorten a long speech, and that the edit was not done with malice.

Fourthly, it says the clip was never meant to be considered in isolation. Rather, it was 12 seconds within an hour-long programme, which also contained lots of voices in support of Trump.

Finally, an opinion on a matter of public concern and political speech is heavily protected under defamation laws in the US.

Even if Trump decides “two out of three ain’t bad” for the 2024 Panorama documentary, the BBC’s troubles may not be over. A few hours before the BBC issued its apology, The Daily Telegraph reported on a second similarly inaccurate edit of Trump’s January 6th speech in a BBC show, this time a 2022 episode of BBC Newsnight.

A spokesman for Trump’s legal team told the Telegraph that it was “now clear that BBC engaged in a pattern of defamation against President Trump.”

“The BBC holds itself to the highest editorial standards,” a BBC spokesperson said. “This matter has been brought to our attention and we are now looking into it.”