The former US president's press secretary has characterized the BBC as "100% fake news" and a "biased media outlet" in a blunt interview. This comes allegations of partiality at the broadcaster.
Senior Administration Figure Condemns BBC Reporting
The White House official, a high-ranking figure in the previous US government, remarked that viewing BBC news reports during visits to the UK "ruins" her day. She asserted that taxpayers are "forced to foot the bill for a leftist propaganda machine."
Dispute Over Edited Speech
The spokesperson's comments came after MPs said the corporation had "serious questions to answer" regarding how a speech by the US president was edited in a BBC Panorama program.
A report leaked to a newspaper suggested that an episode of the current affairs programme "completely misled" audiences by splicing two segments of the speech together.
The broadcast showed the president saying he would march with his followers to the Capitol ahead of the disturbances on 6 January 2021, encouraging them to "fight like hell". Nevertheless, it omitted a portion of the talk where he advised the crowd "to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard".
“This intentionally deceptive, carefully cut footage from the BBC further proves they are entirely, 100% fake news, unworthy of airtime on the screens of the UK's admirable citizens.”
The press secretary 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 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."
Leaked Memo Emphasizes Production Issues
The publication said its coverage was based on a memo written by a former consultant to the BBC's content standards committee. The expert left his position recently and has not commented on the document, understood to have been leaked by a insider.
A passage released stated: "It was completely misleading to edit the clip in the way Panorama aired it. The fact that he did not explicitly exhort supporters to go down and fight at Capitol Hill was one of the reasons there were no federal charges for incitement to riot."
Claims of Widespread Problems
The report allegedly added that the former adviser had raised concerns about how BBC Arabic covered the war in Gaza.
The outlet claimed the author asserted there were "institutional issues", 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 primary BBC website.
One issue highlighted was the frequent use of analysts who were antisemitic or pro-Hamas.
Censure of Transgender Issues Coverage
The lengthy dossier is also reported to have criticised the BBC's coverage of gender identity matters, 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 claimed that stories raising challenging questions about transgender matters were suppressed, with a "steady stream of one-sided stories celebrating the trans experience without adequate fairness or impartiality".
The Broadcaster Reply
In answer, the BBC said: "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."
