Donald Trump's press secretary has described the BBC as "100% fake news" and a "biased media outlet" in a blunt discussion. This comes allegations of partiality at the broadcaster.
White House Official Condemns BBC Reporting
Karoline Leavitt, a high-ranking representative in the previous US government, remarked that watching BBC news reports during visits to the UK "ruins" her day. She claimed that the public are "compelled to foot the bill for a leftist propaganda machine."
Dispute Over Edited Speech
Leavitt's statements came after MPs said the corporation had "significant concerns to answer" regarding how a public address by the American leader was edited in a BBC Panorama documentary.
A report leaked to a newspaper indicated that an installment of the current affairs programme "thoroughly deceived" viewers by combining two parts of the oration together.
The broadcast showed the leader saying he would march with his supporters to the Capitol prior to the disturbances on 6 January 2021, encouraging them to "struggle intensely". Nevertheless, it omitted a portion of the talk where he urged the crowd "to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard".
“This purposefully dishonest, selectively edited clip by the BBC is further evidence that they are total, 100% fake news that should no longer be worth the time on the television screens of the great people of the United Kingdom.”
Leavitt 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 blatant 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 Editing Issues
The newspaper said its reporting was based on a memo authored by a former consultant to the BBC's content standards committee. The adviser departed his role recently and has not commented on the document, understood to have been revealed by a whistleblower.
A passage released read: "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 Systemic Problems
The memo allegedly noted that the ex-consultant had expressed worries about how BBC Arabic reported on the war in Gaza.
The outlet said the author alleged there were "systemic problems", which had not been addressed by senior management. He supposedly cited "stark differences" between the coverage of the war on BBC Arabic and on the main BBC site.
One matter highlighted was the repeated use of analysts who were prejudiced against Jewish people or supportive of the militant group.
Censure of Transgender Topics Coverage
The lengthy dossier is also said to have faulted the BBC's handling of transgender issues, saying the network had been "influenced by a small group of [staff] promoting the Stonewall view" of gender identity issues and that its LGBT unit would "decline to cover any stories raising difficult questions".
It is reported to have claimed that stories posing complex questions about trans issues were suppressed, with a "steady stream of one-sided stories celebrating the trans experience without adequate balance or objectivity".
BBC Response
In answer, the BBC said: "Although we refrain from discussing disclosed papers, the BBC treats all input earnestly and reviews it thoroughly."
"The former adviser is a former adviser to a board committee where differing views and opinions of our coverage are routinely discussed and debated.|He previously advised a panel where varied perspectives on our reporting are regularly examined and contested."
