The former US president's official spokesperson has characterized the BBC as "100% fake news" and a "propaganda machine" in a blunt interview. This comes allegations of bias at the network.
Senior Administration Figure Criticizes BBC Reporting
The White House official, a high-ranking representative in the previous US government, remarked that watching BBC news reports during trips to the UK "ruins" her day. She asserted that the public are "forced to foot the bill for a liberal propaganda machine."
Dispute Over Edited Address
The spokesperson's comments came after lawmakers said the corporation had "significant concerns to answer" regarding how a speech by the US president was edited in a BBC Panorama program.
A report leaked to a newspaper indicated that an installment of the current affairs programme "completely misled" viewers by combining two segments of the speech together.
The programme showed the president saying he would walk with his supporters to the Capitol prior to the disturbances on 6 January 2021, urging them to "fight like hell". Nevertheless, it excluded a section of the talk where he advised the crowd "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: "Every time I journey to the United Kingdom with President Trump and am forced 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 Editing Problems
The newspaper said its reporting was based on a memo written by a ex- adviser to the BBC's content standards board. The expert departed his position recently and has not commented on the document, understood to have been revealed by a insider.
A passage published 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 Systemic Issues
The report reportedly noted that the former adviser had raised concerns about how BBC Arabic covered the conflict in Gaza.
The outlet claimed the author alleged there were "systemic problems", which had not been addressed by top executives. He supposedly cited "stark differences" between the coverage of the war on BBC Arabic and on the main BBC site.
One matter highlighted was the frequent use of commentators who were antisemitic or pro-Hamas.
Censure of Transgender Issues Coverage
The lengthy dossier is also said to have criticised the BBC's coverage of gender identity matters, saying the network had been "captured by a small group of [staff] promoting the Stonewall view" of sexual identity issues and that its LGBT unit would "decline to cover any stories raising difficult questions".
It is said to have claimed that stories raising complex questions about transgender matters were suppressed, with a "constant drip-feed of one-sided stories promoting the trans experience without adequate balance or objectivity".
BBC Response
In response, the BBC stated: "Although we refrain from discussing disclosed papers, the BBC treats all input earnestly and reviews it thoroughly."
"The former adviser 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."