Prime Minister Keir Starmer has defended the "trusted independent BBC" while confirming he has not yet spoken with US President Donald Trump about the broadcaster's Panorama scandal. The controversy erupted after Trump threatened legal action seeking up to five billion dollars over an edited speech.
Trump last week vowed to sue the BBC for "anywhere between one billion dollars and five billion dollars" following the corporation's apology for editing his January 6 2021 speech. The edit had given the "mistaken impression that President Trump had made a direct call for violent action", the BBC acknowledged.
The US President indicated he would discuss the matter with the Prime Minister. That conversation has not taken place. "I have not directly spoken to him about the BBC," Starmer said. "I think he was going to phone me at the weekend but that call didn't happen but we regularly have contact."
Starmer described his relationship with Trump as "excellent" and said they speak "fairly regularly".
Defence of BBC independence
The Prime Minister acknowledged editorial failings must be addressed quickly but stood firm on defending the BBC's independence. "The principle of an independent trusted BBC is really important and should be defended," Starmer said.
"So where (there are) editorial failings, yes of course that has to be addressed as you would expect and as soon as possible, with explanation," he added. "But the principle of a trusted independent BBC media is really important – we have to defend it."
BBC's legal response
The BBC has withdrawn the Panorama episode Trump: A Second Chance? from broadcast and published a retraction. BBC chairman Samir Shah sent a personal apology letter to the White House last week.
The corporation's lawyers outlined five main arguments against Trump's potential defamation claim, according to BBC News. These include: the episode was not distributed on US channels and was restricted to UK viewers on iPlayer; Trump was later re-elected so suffered no harm; the edit was designed to shorten a long speech without malice; the edit should be viewed within the full hour-long programme context; and political speech enjoys strong protection under US defamation laws.
The scandal triggered the resignations of two senior BBC executives: director-general Tim Davie and news chief Deborah Turness.
Note: This article was created with Artificial Intelligence (AI).
