London
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The BBC apologized to US President Donald Trump on Thursday, over a documentary that Trump’s legal professionals described as false and defamatory, looking for to defuse a row that has plunged the general public broadcaster into its worst disaster in years.
A BBC spokesperson mentioned that legal professionals for the broadcaster had written to Trump’s authorized workforce in response to a letter acquired on Sunday.
“BBC chair Samir Shah has separately sent a personal letter to the White House making clear to President (Donald) Trump that he and the corporation are sorry for the edit of the president’s speech on 6 January 2021, which featured in the program,” the spokesperson mentioned.
The spokesperson mentioned the BBC has no plans to rebroadcast the documentary on any BBC platforms whereas rejecting that it was defamatory.
Rebuffing Trump’s calls for for compensation the broadcaster mentioned, “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.”
Trump had threatened to sue the BBC for $1 billion until it retracted the October 2024 documentary and apologized for what his legal professionals have described as “overwhelming financial and reputational harm” earlier than a deadline of 5 p.m. ET Friday.
The BBC had already apologized for an error of judgment within the documentary, titled “Trump: A Second Chance?”, however not earlier than it had ignited a scandal that noticed the resignations of its director-general and head of stories.
In the documentary, Trump’s January 6 speech was edited to present him 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 going to have a country anymore.”
In reality, the US chief mentioned: “We’re gonna walk down to the Capitol and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women,” with “fight like hell” coming 54 minutes later.
In an interview with Fox News Tuesday, Trump mentioned the British broadcaster had “butchered” his “beautiful” and “calming” speech and “made it sound radical.”
Trump has a historical past of sending authorized threats and never following via with lawsuits. But he has sued The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal in latest months over different grievances.
The BBC’s board has been criticized for responding too slowly to the editing screwup, which was revealed in a leaked inner memo that has created a firestorm of criticism and allegations of systemic bias.
Deborah Turness, the outgoing CEO of BBC News who resigned on Sunday, has mentioned that whereas errors had been made, “allegations that BBC News is institutionally biased are wrong.”
In a message to BBC News employees following her resignation, Turness mentioned that the backlash surrounding the Trump documentary had “reached a stage where it is causing damage to the BBC – an institution that I love.”
The British public broadcaster’s subsequent steps aren’t instantly clear. Trump is but to publicly acknowledge the apology.
This story has been up to date with further particulars.