Dutch historian Rutger Bregman has accused the BBC of censorship. The broadcaster removed a line about Donald Trump from his prestigious Reith Lecture. The corporation deleted a sentence describing the US president as "the most openly corrupt president in American history" on legal advice. This plunges the BBC into fresh controversy over its Trump coverage just weeks after the president threatened a lawsuit for up to five billion dollars.
Bregman delivered his lecture "A Time Of Monsters" to a live audience of 500 people at the BBC Radio Theatre last month. The BBC aired its edited version on Tuesday morning on Radio 4, with the Trump reference removed.
In a video statement, the 37-year-old author of "Utopia For Realists" said: "I wish I didn't have to share this. But the BBC has decided to censor my first Reith Lecture." He explained: "They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as 'the most openly corrupt president in American history'."
BBC executives told Bregman the decision came from "the highest levels within the BBC" after days of discussions with US lawyers. He called the move deeply ironic: "It's especially ironic because the lecture is exactly about the 'paralysing cowardice' of today's elites. About universities, corporations and media networks bending the knee to authoritarianism."
Legal fears drive decision
The author told the Guardian he found the edit troubling, made against his expressed objections. He defended the removed sentence as defensible, citing a major New Yorker investigation from August about Trump's financial gains from the presidency.
"Not because people can't disagree with my words, but because self-censorship driven by fear (Trump threatening to sue the BBC) should concern all of us," Bregman said. He emphasized the decision affects more than just him: "When institutions start censoring themselves because they're scared of those in power, that is the moment we all need to pay attention."
A BBC spokesperson confirmed: "All our programmes must comply with the BBC's editorial guidelines, and we made the decision to remove one sentence from the lecture on legal advice."
Fresh Trump controversy
Bregman's accusation of censorship comes amid heightened tensions between the BBC and Trump. The president previously threatened to sue the broadcaster for up to five billion dollars over a Panorama edit that spliced parts of his January 6, 2021 speech together. That controversy led to the resignations of then-director-general Tim Davie and BBC News chief Deborah Turness.
The Reith Lectures, named after the BBC's first director-general Lord Reith, have been running since 1948 as the corporation's prestigious annual lecture series. Previous lecturers include physicist Stephen Hawking and author Hilary Mantel. Philosopher Bertrand Russell delivered the first lectures. Bregman described him as his "intellectual hero" and "a huge advocate of free speech".
Bregman's lecture series "Moral Revolution" warns of a broader resurgence of fascism and addresses what he calls the moral decay of today's elites. Despite his disappointment, he expressed hope that people would still listen: "I still hope lots of people will listen to the lectures. Because it seems to me that the message, about the cowardice of today's elites, is more relevant than ever."
Note: This article was created with Artificial Intelligence (AI).
