BBC apologises to Donald Trump over Panorama edit and rejects defamation claim

The BBC said chairman Samir Shah has sent a personal letter to the White House to apologise for the editing of the speech (James Manning/PA)

The BBC has apologised to US President Donald Trump over the editing of a speech which appeared on Panorama in 2024, adding it was an “error of judgement” and the programme will “not be broadcast again in this form on any BBC platforms”.

The corporation said chairman Samir Shah has sent a personal letter to the White House to apologise for the editing of the speech but added: “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.”

Earlier in the week Mr Trump said he had an “obligation” to launch a billion-dollar lawsuit against the corporation, saying in an interview with Fox News that the BBC had “defrauded the public” over the editing of the speech, which made it appear as if he was explicitly urging people to attack the US Capitol on January 6 2021.

President Donald Trump (Evan Vucci/AP)

In a retraction published by the BBC, it said: “This programme was reviewed after criticism of how President Donald Trump’s 6th January 2021 speech was edited.

“During that sequence, we showed excerpts taken from different parts of the speech.

“However, we accept that our edit unintentionally created the impression that we were showing a single continuous section of the speech, rather than excerpts from different points in the speech, and that this gave the mistaken impression that President Trump had made a direct call for violent action.

“The BBC would like to apologise to President Trump for that error of judgement.”

The retraction ended saying: “This programme was not scheduled to be re-broadcast and will not be broadcast again in this form on any BBC platforms.”

The episode, Trump: A Second Chance?, has been taken down from the BBC website with a retraction published on the webpage on Thursday evening.

A BBC spokesperson confirmed on Thursday night that lawyers for the BBC have written to Mr Trump’s legal team in response to a letter received on Sunday.

Their statement said: “BBC chair Samir Shah has separately sent a personal letter to the White House making clear to President Trump that he and the corporation are sorry for the edit of the president’s speech on 6 January 2021, which featured in the programme.”

It added: “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.”

It comes amid reports that the BBC faced accusations of misleading viewers on Mr Trump’s US Capitol speech more than two years before the controversial Panorama edit aired.

In an episode broadcast in June 2022, Newsnight reportedly played an edit of the US president’s speech which was similar to the one used in a Panorama programme in October 2024 – both of which made it appear as if he was explicitly urging people to attack the Capitol.

A BBC spokesperson said in response to the fresh claims, reported by The Daily T podcast, that: “The BBC holds itself to the highest editorial standards. This matter has been brought to our attention and we are now looking into it.”

Outgoing BBC director-general Tim Davie outside BBC Broadcasting House in London following his resignation (Lucy North/PA)

The scandal has seen two of the BBC’s most senior executives – director-general Tim Davie and news chief Deborah Turness – both quit in response.

On Monday, Mr Shah issued an apology from the corporation over the “error of judgment” in the editing of the speech for the Panorama episode.

Responding to a letter from the Culture, Media and Sport Committee, Mr Shah said that there had been more than 500 complaints since the publication of the Michael Prescott memo, which raised concerns about the Panorama episode, adding: “We accept that the way the speech was edited did give the impression of a direct call for violent action.”

A legal letter, from Mr Trump’s counsel Alejandro Brito, demanded that “false, defamatory, disparaging and inflammatory statements” made about Mr Trump be retracted immediately.

On Thursday, Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said Mr Trump “wants to destroy the BBC”, in a post to X, and urged people to join his campaign, calling on the corporation to “fairly balance its political news coverage all year round, not just at election time”.

He also said that Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, who accused the BBC of being “infected with left-wing bias”, “is egging him on”.

There have been reports that Reform UK has pulled out of a BBC documentary about the political party because of the controversy over the edited speech of Mr Trump.