🔗 Share this article

Donald Trump's press secretary has characterized the BBC as "100% fake news" and a "propaganda machine" in a blunt interview. These remarks follow allegations of bias at the broadcaster.

Senior Administration Figure Criticizes BBC Coverage

Karoline Leavitt, a high-ranking representative in the previous US government, stated that watching BBC news reports during trips to the UK "spoils" her day. She asserted that taxpayers are "compelled to foot the bill for a leftist propaganda machine."

Dispute Over Edited Speech

The spokesperson's comments emerged after lawmakers said the broadcaster had "serious questions 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 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 ahead of the riots on January 6th, encouraging them to "struggle intensely". However, it excluded a section of the speech where he advised the assembly "to express views calmly and loyally".

“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.”

Leavitt continued: "Whenever I journey 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."

Leaked Document Highlights Editing Issues

The newspaper reported its reporting was based on a memo authored by a ex- consultant to the BBC's content standards board. The expert left his position recently and has not commented on the file, believed to have been leaked by a whistleblower.

A passage published 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."

Allegations of Systemic Issues

The report reportedly added that the former adviser had raised concerns about how BBC Arabic reported on the conflict in Gaza.

The newspaper said the author alleged there were "institutional issues", which had not been resolved by senior management. He supposedly cited "clear disparities" between the reporting of the war on BBC Arabic and on the primary BBC site.

One matter highlighted was the frequent use of commentators who were antisemitic or pro-Hamas.

Censure of Trans Topics Coverage

The lengthy dossier is also reported 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 sexual identity issues and that its LGBT desk would "decline to cover any stories raising difficult questions".

It is reported to have alleged that stories posing challenging questions about transgender matters were downplayed, with a "constant drip-feed of one-sided stories promoting the trans experience without adequate fairness or objectivity".

BBC Response

In response, the BBC stated: "While we don’t comment on leaked documents, when the BBC receives feedback it takes it seriously and considers it carefully."

"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."