Donald Trump's official spokesperson has described the BBC as "100% fake news" and a "biased media outlet" in a forthright discussion. These remarks follow allegations of bias at the broadcaster.
White House Official Criticizes BBC Reporting
Karoline Leavitt, a senior figure in the Trump administration, remarked that watching BBC news reports during trips to the UK "ruins" her day. She asserted that taxpayers are "compelled to foot the bill for a leftist propaganda machine."
Controversy Over Edited Address
The spokesperson's statements came after MPs said the corporation had "serious questions to answer" regarding how a speech by the American leader was edited in a BBC Panorama program.
A document leaked to a newspaper suggested that an episode of the news programme "thoroughly deceived" audiences by combining two segments of the oration together.
The programme depicted the president saying he would march with his supporters to the Capitol prior to the disturbances on 6 January 2021, urging them to "fight like hell". Nevertheless, it excluded a section of the talk where he advised the assembly "to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard".
“This intentionally deceptive, carefully cut footage from the BBC further proves they are entirely, 100% fake news, unworthy of airtime on the screens of the UK's admirable citizens.”
The press secretary added: "Whenever I travel to the United Kingdom with President Trump and am obliged to watch the BBC in our hotel rooms, it mars my day listening to their overt propaganda and lies about the president of the United States and all that he’s doing to make America better and the world a safer place."
Disclosed Document Emphasizes Production Problems
The publication reported its coverage was based on a memo authored by a former consultant to the BBC's content standards board. The adviser left his position earlier this year and has not spoken on the document, understood to have been leaked by a whistleblower.
A passage released stated: "It was completely misleading to edit the clip in the way Panorama aired it. The fact that he did not explicitly exhort supporters to go down and fight at Capitol Hill was one of the reasons there were no federal charges for incitement to riot."
Claims of Widespread Issues
The report reportedly noted that the ex-consultant had raised concerns about how BBC Arabic reported on the war in Gaza.
The newspaper said the author alleged there were "institutional issues", which had not been resolved by top executives. He supposedly cited "stark differences" between the reporting of the war on BBC Arabic and on the main BBC site.
One matter highlighted was the repeated use of analysts who were antisemitic or pro-Hamas.
Criticism of Transgender Topics Reporting
The 19-page file is also reported to have faulted the BBC's handling of transgender issues, saying the broadcaster had been "captured by a small group of [staff] promoting the Stonewall view" of sexual identity issues and that its LGBT unit would "decline to cover any stories raising difficult questions".
It is said to have claimed that stories raising challenging questions about trans issues were suppressed, with a "constant drip-feed of one-sided stories celebrating the trans experience without adequate fairness or impartiality".
BBC Response
In response, the BBC said: "While we don’t comment on leaked documents, when the BBC receives feedback it takes it seriously and considers it carefully."
"Michael Prescott is a former adviser to a board committee where differing views and opinions of our coverage are routinely discussed and debated.|The ex-consultant previously advised a panel where varied perspectives on our reporting are regularly examined and contested."
