Trump’s view that mainstream media is biased against him is not newpublished at 21:45 GMT
21:45 GMT
Anthony Zurcher
North America correspondent
This is the first time Donald Trump has commented on the controversy surrounding the 2024 Panorama documentary on his re-election bid.
Taking to Truth Social to share his views on the resignation of the BBC bosses, the president calls BBC Director-General Tim Davie and his leadership team “very dishonest people”. And he accuses the BBC of trying to “step on the scales of a presidential election”.
The Panorama documentary had edited portions of Trump’s 6 January, 2021, speech in a way that made it appear the president had explicitly called for his supporters to attack the US Capitol, where Congress was certifying Joe Biden’s presidential victory.
Davie’s departure, along with CEO of BBC News Deborah Turness, came primarily as a result of growing pressure from within the UK, but the White House is also taking some credit for the move.
On Saturday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt called the BBC “100% fake news” and a “propaganda machine”. On Sunday, she took to X to draw a direct line from Trump ”going to war” with the BBC and the resignations.
Trump and senior administration officials have frequently characterised the mainstream news media as biased against them – a sentiment that stretches back to the president’s first national campaign in 2015.
The White House has often celebrated what it views as instances when media outlets have faced negative consequences for its news coverage.
In June, Leavitt accused the BBC of misreporting, and then backing away from, its coverage of an attack at a Gaza refugee camp. The BBC stood by its reporting of what it said was a “fast-moving news story”.