The UK government expects answers after a leaked report said the corporation edited a speech to make it appear Trump encouraged violence at the U.S. Capitol.
The UK government has sought assurance that the BBC is examining a leaked internal report accusing the corporation of selectively editing a speech by U.S. President Donald Trump on the day of the 2021 Capitol breach.
The prime minister’s spokesman told reporters on Tuesday that UK Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy and senior officials in the Department for Culture, Media, and Sport have received a copy of the memo.
The officials “have been assured by the BBC that they themselves are examining the issues raised in the report,” the spokesman said.
“Fundamentally, it’s crucial that the BBC upholds the highest standards of reporting and impartiality, so it’s trusted as our national broadcaster,” he continued. “We take any criticisms of the BBC’s editorial standards very seriously. We expect the BBC to consider feedback that they receive seriously, too, and carefully.”
Concerns over the editing were raised in the 19-page memo, reviewed by the Daily Telegraph, on impartiality by Michael Prescott, a former journalist and who is now on the committee giving editorial advice to the BBC.
The memo alleged that viewers were materially misled by an edition of Panorama, the BBC’s flagship news program, broadcast one week before last year’s presidential election.
“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,” Prescott wrote in the memo.
Nandy said in a statement that she “expects the corporation to report the news accurately and impartially” and to look into issues around “editorial standards thoroughly.”
The Culture, Media, and Sport (CMS) Committee has written to BBC Chair Samir Shah to ask what action is being taken by the corporation after the concerns raised by the editorial standards body.
The BBC said it does not comment on internal leaks, but issued a statement saying: “Michael Prescott is a former adviser to a board committee where differing views and opinions of our coverage are routinely discussed and debated.”
