Why Trump suing the BBC could become the biggest TACO of all

October 27, 2026 — 11:48am

You have reached your maximum number of saved items.

Remove items from your saved list to add more.

No gift articles left

You've used all of your gift articles. 3 more will become available on the 1st of every month.

A $US10 billion ($14.2 billion) defamation case brought by Donald Trump against the BBC over a program broadcast about the January 6, 2021 riots reached a make-or-break point this week when the judge ordered the US president to turn up and be examined before December 11.

Trump is suing the UK broadcaster over an episode of current affairs program Panorama that edited together two different sections of a speech he gave before the riot at the US Capitol. The lawsuit accuses the BBC of “deceptively doctoring” the speech. The broadcaster has already apologised for the error, admitting that it gave “the mistaken impression that Trump made a direct call for violent action”.

In commencing this action, perhaps Trump was misled by the $US86.5 million ($123 million) paid to him by Paramount Global and other media and tech companies, including ABC, CBS and Facebook, pretending the vast amounts were genuine defamation settlements, and believed the BBC would fall into line.

So far as I know, Australia has had only one such case, in 1986 – when businessman Alan Bond, having acquired Kerry Packer’s Channel Nine, paid then-Queensland premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen a $400,000 bribe, successfully passing it off as an out-of-court defamation case settlement from the Packer days. Even the cat in the barristers’ chambers knew the case was worth $50,000 tops, and it was no more or less than a bribe for Joh’s protection of........

© The Sydney Morning Herald