{"id":285830,"date":"2025-11-11T19:04:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-11T19:04:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/285830\/"},"modified":"2025-11-11T19:04:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T19:04:11","slug":"britains-government-will-address-a-feud-between-bbc-and-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/285830\/","title":{"rendered":"Britain’s government will address a feud between BBC and Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"

LONDON (AP) \u2014 Britain\u2019s government rallied to the defense of the BBC<\/a> on Tuesday after allegations of bias from its critics and the threat of a lawsuit<\/a> from U.S. President Donald Trump over the way the broadcaster edited a speech he made after losing the 2020 presidential election<\/p>\n

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said the national broadcaster faces \u201cchallenges, some of its own making,\u201d but is \u201cby far the most widely used and trusted source of news in the United Kingdom.\u201d<\/p>\n

With critics in media and politics demanding an overhaul of the BBC\u2019s funding and governance, Nandy said that \u201cthe BBC as an institution is absolutely essential to this country.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt a time when the lines are being dangerously blurred between facts and opinions, news and polemic, the BBC stands apart,\u201d she said in the House of Commons.<\/p>\n

Trump threatens to sue<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Journalists<\/p>\n

Journalists report outside BBC Broadcasting House in London, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo\/Kirsty Wigglesworth)<\/p>\n

Journalists report outside BBC Broadcasting House in London, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo\/Kirsty Wigglesworth)<\/p>\n

Read More<\/p>\n

A lawyer for Trump is demanding a retraction, apology and compensation from the broadcaster over the allegedly defamatory sequence in a documentary broadcast last year.<\/p>\n

Fallout from the documentary has already claimed the BBC\u2019s top executive, Tim Davie, and head of news Deborah Turness<\/a>, who both resigned over what the broadcaster called an \u201cerror of judgment.\u201d<\/p>\n

The BBC has apologized for misleading editing of a speech Trump delivered on Jan. 6, 2021, before a crowd of his supporters stormed the Capitol in Washington.<\/p>\n

Broadcast days before the November 2024 U.S. election, the documentary \u201cTrump: A Second Chance?\u201d spliced together three quotes from two sections of the speech, delivered almost an hour apart, into what appeared to be one quote in which Trump urged supporters to march with him and \u201cfight like hell.\u201d Among the parts cut out was a section where Trump said he wanted supporters to demonstrate peacefully.<\/p>\n

BBC chair Samir Shah said the broadcaster accepted \u201cthat the way the speech was edited did give the impression of a direct call for violent action.\u201d<\/p>\n

The BBC has not yet formally responded to the demand from Florida-based Trump attorney Alejandro Brito that it \u201cretract the false, defamatory, disparaging and inflammatory statements,\u201d apologize and \u201cappropriately compensate President Trump for the harm caused\u201d by Friday, or face legal action for $1 billion in damages.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"People<\/p>\n

People walk outside BBC Broadcasting House in London, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo\/Kirsty Wigglesworth)<\/p>\n

People walk outside BBC Broadcasting House in London, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo\/Kirsty Wigglesworth)<\/p>\n

Read More<\/p>\n

Nigel Huddleston, media spokesman for the opposition Conservative Party, said the BBC should \u201cprovide a fulsome apology to the U.S. president\u201d to avoid legal action.<\/p>\n

Legal experts say Trump is likely too late to sue the BBC in Britain, because a one-year deadline to file a defamation suit has expired. He could still bring a defamation claim in several U.S. states, and his lawyer cited Florida law in a letter to the BBC, but faces considerable legal hurdles<\/a>.<\/p>\n

An embattled national institution<\/p>\n

The publicly funded BBC is a century-old national institution under growing pressure in an era of polarized politics and changing media viewing habits.<\/p>\n

Funded through an annual license fee of 174.50 pounds ($230) paid by all households who watch live TV or any BBC content, the broadcaster is frequently a political football<\/a>, with conservatives seeing a leftist slant in its news output and some liberals accusing it of having a conservative bias.<\/p>\n

Governments of both left and right have long been accused of meddling with the broadcaster, which is overseen by a board that includes both BBC nominees and government appointees.<\/p>\n

Some defenders of the BBC allege that board members appointed under previous Conservative governments have been undermining the corporation from within.<\/p>\n

Pressure on the broadcaster has been growing since the right-leaning Daily Telegraph published parts of a dossier compiled by Michael Prescott, who had been hired to advise the BBC on standards and guidelines. As well as the Trump edit, Prescott criticized the BBC\u2019s coverage of transgender issues and raised concerns of anti-Israel bias in the BBC\u2019s Arabic service.<\/p>\n

Near the BBC\u2019s London headquarters, some passersby said the scandal would further erode trust in a broadcaster already under pressure.<\/p>\n

Amanda Carey, a semi-retired lawyer, said the editing of the Trump speech is \u201csomething that should never have happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe last few scandals that they\u2019ve had, trust in the BBC is very much waning and a number of people are saying they\u2019re going to refuse to pay the license (fee),\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

A growing number of people argue that the license fee is unsustainable in a world where many households watch little or no traditional TV.<\/p>\n

Nandy said the government will soon start the once-a-decade process of reviewing the BBC\u2019s governing charter, which expires at the end of 2027. She said the government would ensure the BBC is \u201csustainably funded (and) commands the public\u2019s trust,\u201d but did not say whether the license fee might be scaled back or scrapped.<\/p>\n

Davie, who announced his resignation as BBC director-general on Sunday, acknowledged that \u201cwe have made some mistakes that have cost us.\u201d<\/p>\n

But, he added: \u201cWe\u2019ve got to to fight for our journalism.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Associated Press journalist Kwiyeon Ha contributed to this story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LONDON (AP) \u2014 Britain\u2019s government rallied to the defense of the BBC on Tuesday after allegations of bias…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":285831,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[150686,150687,23,8827,28,147483,12,88,2808,793,3130,149121,1150,149120,3,150429,111,8828,149743,1049,8835,21,19,22,20,25,24,800,965],"class_list":["post-285830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-alejandro-brito","tag-amanda-carey","tag-america","tag-bbc","tag-business","tag-deborah-turness","tag-donald-trump","tag-entertainment","tag-florida","tag-general-news","tag-lawsuits","tag-lisa-nandy","tag-london","tag-michael-prescott","tag-news","tag-nigel-huddleston","tag-politics","tag-public-media","tag-samir-shah","tag-united-kingdom","tag-united-kingdom-government","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-washington-news","tag-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=285830"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285830\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/285831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=285830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=285830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=285830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}