Reports indicate that the broadcasting company intentionally altered a video of a speech given by Donald Trump prior to the Capitol unrest.
Donald Trump Jr. labeled the BBC as “fake news” following allegations that the organization had “manipulated” a video of his father, then-President Donald Trump, speaking, to suggest he was inciting participants in the January 2021 Capitol riot.
The president’s eldest son stated on X on Monday: “FAKE NEWS ‘journalists’ in the UK are every bit as deceitful and filled with nonsense as those in America!!!!”
This statement referenced a Telegraph article released that same day, which quoted an “internal whistleblower’s memorandum” from Michael Prescott, a former independent advisor to the BBC’s Editorial Guidelines and Standards Committee.
The report pertained to a BBC Panorama program called ‘Trump: A Second Chance?’, which was broadcast in late October 2024, approximately seven days before the American presidential election.
During the broadcast, Trump is depicted telling his supporters: “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.”
INSANE: BBC Panorama *edited footage* of Trump’s speech to make it look like he encouraged the Capitol Hill riot.
The Trump hating leftists at the BBC broadcast the programme a week before the US election.
Scrap the licence fee.
— Lee Harris (@addicted2newz)
The memo indicates that Trump’s statements were modified: the video combined comments spoken approximately 54 minutes apart. The demonstrators, who were shown advancing towards the Capitol right after the manipulated segment, had actually been filmed before Trump began speaking to his audience.
The memorandum noted that the documentary offered no disclosure that the footage had been altered or presented non-sequentially.
Prescott was quoted by The Telegraph stating that “this gave the impression that Trump uttered something he did not, thereby significantly misinforming the audience.” The publication reported that BBC leadership “declined to acknowledge a violation of standards.” The particular episode is presently inaccessible.