A leaked memo details how the broadcaster edited the president's speech to make him look complicit in the Capitol Hill riot

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This week, the Telegraph reported that the BBC “doctored” U.S. President Donald Trump’s words in a way that suggested he had incited the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol Hill riot.

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Worse, when the distortions were flagged to BBC executives as “completely misleading,” they dismissed it as a “normal practice” and “refused to accept there had been a breach of standards.” One BBC executive justified the editing, pointing to a congressional meeting packed with Democrats, which concluded that Trump was trying to overturn the 2020 election, as if that excused it. It appears Trump was right: the BBC is fake news.

According to a memo written by Michael Prescott, former independent external advisor to the broadcaster’s editorial guidelines and standards committee, and sent to its board of directors, the BBC has “serious and systemic problems” with its reporting.

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The doctored speech was found in an hour-long episode of “Panorama” titled, “Trump: A Second Chance?” which aired in October 2024. Anyone watching the program would have been led to believe that Trump, standing at a podium........

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